WALES

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what her Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

David Jones: The Wales Office's carbon emissions for the period requested is given in the table.
	The figures reflect the fact that my Department is small, and so some events can have a disproportionately large impact on the level of carbon emissions that would be more easily absorbed by a larger Department. Most of the Department's emissions are derived from electricity consumption and from travel, and to compensate for the impact electricity is obtained from a supplier using renewable sources and emissions from official cars are offset.
	
		
			  Total CO 2  emissions (tonnes) 
			 2010-11 70.8 
			 2011-12 77.8

NORTHERN IRELAND

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office carbon emission levels for 2010-11 were 226 tonnes. Figures for 2011-12 are currently being collated and will be published in due course.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Owen Paterson: My Department has taken the following steps to reduce carbon emissions:
	(a) 2010: reduced office accommodation in London, which enabled CO2 savings on heating; a bio-mass heating system and solar panels were introduced at Hillsborough Castle; use of bottled water ceased; and private jet replaced by commercial flights.
	(b) 2011: additional video conference facilities were introduced in order to reduce the need for travel; and further reduction in accommodation in London.
	(c) 2012: co-location of core Departmental staff at a single site in Belfast, thereby reducing the need for travel.

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: No complaints about the work of my Department were received during 2010-11 or 2011-12.
	My Department has two non-departmental public bodies—the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland. Both public bodies are independent of Government and the hon. Gentleman may wish to write to the commissions directly on these matters.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: During 2010-11 and 2011-12, no items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more were lost in my Department.

SCOTLAND

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office's total level of carbon emissions between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 was 291.6 tonnes, and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012 was 246.6 tonnes.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

David Mundell: A wide range of measures have been taken in order to achieve significant CO2 emissions savings in the Scotland Office. These included ensuring central heating is switched off, as well as electrical appliances, when rooms are vacated (2010), the installation of a more energy efficient gas boiler (2011) and Point of Use heaters for hot tap water (2012).

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints about the work of his Department were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: No complaints about the work of the Scotland Office were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: No items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more were lost by the Scotland Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum: Young People

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department sought the (a) advice and (b) permission of the Department for Education before beginning the age assessments dental x-ray pilot.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency discussed the trial with the Department for Education. Any decision to go ahead with the trial on the basis of ethical approval will be made with the agreement of the Department for Education.

Deportation: Offenders

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national offenders from European Economic Area countries have been deported from the UK in each of the last five years; and what the nationality was of each such offender in each such year.

Damian Green: holding answer 22 May 2012
	In 2010-11, 5,339 foreign national offenders were removed or deported from the UK. It is our policy not to disclose the countries to which we remove or deport foreign national offenders as this could jeopardise our diplomatic relations. Data from before 2010 are not held centrally.

Deportation: Offenders

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to seek the revision of the European Council Directive on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states (2004/38/EC) so that foreign national offenders from European Economic Area (EEA) countries can be deported from the UK in accordance with the arrangements for deporting foreign national offenders from countries outside of the EEA.

Damian Green: holding answer 22 May 2012
	The Government support the principle of free movement for citizens of EU member states, including our own, and recognise the many benefits that it brings. However, we have repeatedly urged the EU to ensure that such rights are not open to abuse, whether by illegal migrants or by criminals. The Government will continue to bring our concerns to the attention of the Commission and other member states at meetings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council and in the context of the Commission's intended review of the implementation of the directive.

Domestic Violence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 7 of her Department's document, Call to End Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG): Action Plan, what timetable she has set for introducing in the British Crime Survey (BCS) new questions on attitudes towards VAWG; what response she has received from the BCS to the questions developed and put forward for inclusion; who was consulted on the formulation of the questions; if she will place in the Library a copy of these questions; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: Questions about attitudes to domestic violence have been included in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW, formerly the British Crime Survey) since April 2011. Results from the first 12 months of interviews will be available for publication after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) first release of crime statistics in July 2012. These questions were developed by the survey contractor and subject to testing with members of the public before they were introduced to the survey.
	Responsibility for the publication of crime statistics now rests with the ONS and it will give consideration to when and how such data will be published in its reporting.
	CSEW data will be made available to the public for further analysis in due course.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials are involved in administering the National Referral Mechanism for suspected victims of trafficking; and in what parts of the country these officials are based.

Damian Green: Under the National Referral Mechanism, decisions about who is a victim of trafficking can only be made by trained specialists. The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC), part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the UK Border Agency are the only designated ‘Competent Authorities' able to perform this role. Seven staff located within the UKHTC in Birmingham—including five SOCA officers and two staff seconded from the UK Border Agency—undertake this role on a full-time basis. In addition, approximately 120 trained staff within the UK Border Agency who are located across the United Kingdom undertake this role alongside other duties.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what cost was incurred by the (a) UK Border Agency and (b) UK Human Trafficking Centre in administering the National Referral Mechanism for suspected victims of trafficking in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: Funds have not been specifically allocated for administering the National Referral Mechanism and work has been absorbed within “business as usual” running costs by the UK Border Agency and the UK Human Trafficking Centre, part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Details of the annual accounts of the UK Border Agency and Serious Organised Crime Agency can be found using the following links:
	UK Border Agency
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/
	Serious Organised Crime Agency
	http://www.soca.gov.uk/about-soca/library

Illegal Immigrants: Deportation

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to increase the number of illegal immigrants who are successfully removed.

Damian Green: We prefer that people leave the UK voluntarily. However, if this option is refused then we will enforce removal, including arresting and detaining those who refuse to comply.
	We plan to increase the volume of removals this year by building better processes and performance management for our enforcement teams; improving our contact management procedures; developing the hostile environment in the UK so that it is increasingly difficult for illegal migrants to access public services prior to their arrest; delivering commercial solutions for increasing removals; and improving our management information on those individuals who leave the UK voluntarily.

Immigration Controls

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many customs officers she estimates have been asked to staff passport controls at London airports in the last two months; and what estimate she has made of the likely number of such customs officers who will staff such controls up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Damian Green: Border Force staff cover both immigration and customs work. Officers are trained to deal with both types of work. Border Force ensures that staff are deployed to meet the highest risks, whether this is to deal with passengers at the primary control point or elsewhere, including customs activity.
	During the Olympics, Border Force will deploy additional staff to London airports. Heathrow is the designated Olympics airport; additional staff will be deployed to ensure that all desks are open at peak times throughout the day.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun off by her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: No public sector mutuals have been created or spun off from the Home Office.
	The coalition Government are committed to supporting the creation and growth of public service mutuals, including giving public sector employees new rights to bid for or request to take over the services that they are delivering.

Risk Assessment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategic or transitional risk registers in each area of policy are held by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: In the Home Office each of the main business areas has a top-level strategic risk register and, in addition, there is an overarching strategic or corporate risk register. As well as this each major programme or project has its own risk register.

Victim Support Schemes

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations she has received from Victim Support regarding changes to the commissioning of victim and witness support services.

Lynne Featherstone: I have responded to only two direct representations from Victim Support highlighting concerns about the proposal for local commissioning, included in the “Getting it right for victims and witnesses” consultation. To ensure that there is an accurate consideration of all views received in response to the consultation paper, it was agreed that the Secretary of State for Justice, as the lead on victims' issues, should deal with other representations. I understand that his officials have so far received approximately 60 constituent representations from Victim Support. The Government are determined to ensure that available funding is better targeted to those victims most in need of support and that a wider range of service providers is available. We believe this will be best achieved through a mixture of local and national commissioning and that Police and Crime Commissioners are best placed to commission victims' services at a local level.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many letters and emails his Office has received calling for the creation of an elected House of Lords in the last 12 months.

Mark Harper: The Government have received more than two thousand representations since the publication of our White Paper and draft House of Lords Reform Bill in May last year. A detailed breakdown of the correspondence on House of Lords reform has not been undertaken but the majority are concerned with the question of reserved places for Church of England Bishops in a reformed House of Lords.

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the costs of a single question public referendum on reform of the House of Lords; and what estimate he has made of the cost of a referendum on reform of the House of Lords held on the same day as a general election.

Mark Harper: The Government have made no estimate of the costs of a referendum on reform of the House of Lords.

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the potential cost of elections to a wholly or part-elected House of Lords.

Mark Harper: The costs of elections to a reformed House of Lords will depend on a number of variables. In particular, the electoral system used and the degree of combination with other electoral events will affect the costs. The Government are currently considering the report of the Joint Committee on the Government's draft Bill before finalising proposals for reform. We will publish full cost estimates when we introduce a Bill.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Portcullis House

Frank Field: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reason the Despatch Box in Portcullis House is not stocked with its usual range of gifts and souvenirs; what policy has been set on the stocking of such gifts and souvenirs in the Despatch Box; and whether that policy has changed since the opening of Portcullis House.

John Thurso: The Commission has not set a formal policy on the stocking of souvenirs in the Despatch Box. Responsibility for souvenir stocking is delegated to the Catering and Retail Service.
	A small range of House of Commons souvenirs has been on sale from the Despatch Box since shortly after it opened in 2001-02. The range of souvenirs has been reviewed regularly in response to changing tastes and seasonal demands. The recent reduction in the range available from the Despatch Box reflects sales trends. Stocking a smaller range of souvenirs will also help to reduce queuing times (an issue of concern to many users) for its primary business activity, which is serving hot drinks and light refreshments. A full range of souvenirs continues to be available at other outlets.
	The Director General of Facilities would be happy to discuss this matter further with the right hon. Gentleman.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Electricity: Prices

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with energy intensive industries on changes in electricity costs due to the renewables obligation.

Charles Hendry: The Government's consultation on the renewables obligation banding review invited evidence from industrial auto-generators (including energy intensive industries) interested in converting from coal-fired to biomass generation. Evidence was specifically requested(1) on the differential in generation costs, the costs of making biomass conversion economically viable for industrial auto-generators, and deployment potential for auto-generators converting from coal to biomass to help inform how much support such stations should receive under the renewables obligation.
	A number of responses were received and will be taken into account in the Government's decision on levels of banded support for 2013-17. We aim to publish the Government response to the consultation shortly.
	(1)http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/cons_ro_review/cons_ro_review.aspx
	Consultation on proposals for the levels of banded support under the Renewables Obligation for the period 2013-17 and the Renewables Obligation Order 2012, page 61.

Energy: Housing

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to Priority 1, Impact Indicator 1 on page 26 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11, how the Green Deal and the energy company obligation will promote the installation of loft insulation of at least 125 mm in households.

Gregory Barker: DECC's analysis shows that the majority of lofts in Great Britain have already been filled to at least 125 mm. The remaining potential is predominantly loft “top-ups”.
	The Green Deal and the energy company obligation (ECO) will provide significant opportunities for loft insulation. Households may choose to treat their lofts under the Green Deal on a stand-alone basis or as part of a package of measures. In addition, ECO will be available to provide subsidy for loft insulation in many circumstances, for example for qualifying vulnerable households; for homes in low-income areas; and for loft installations which take place alongside other specified measures, such as solid wall insulation.

Fuel Oil: West Midlands

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the average household expenditure on heating fuel bills in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands.

Charles Hendry: The most recent data available are for 2011. In this year, we estimate that the average electricity and gas bill in the west midlands was £1,102. This is based on a national average of actual gas and electricity consumption in 2011 of 3,932 kWh for standard electricity, and 13,680 kWh for gas. These consumption levels were lower than usual due to the unusually warm weather in 2011.
	We are not able separately to estimate this figure for Coventry.

Nuclear Power Stations

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects the building of Heysham's new power station to be completed; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: As set out in the 2011 Nuclear National Policy Statement, Heysham is one of the sites considered by the Government as suitable for future nuclear power stations. The construction of any new nuclear power station at Heysham is, however, a commercial matter and there are currently no active plans by industry to begin any time soon.
	It is in the UK's interest that lead sites continue to have the potential to be developed. The Government remain firmly committed to our efforts to ensure that the conditions are right for investment in new nuclear power in the UK.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department has not created or spun off any new public sector mutuals over the period 2010-12.
	I support the idea of the public sector working closely with the voluntary sector where such schemes are able to provide value to the taxpayer.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Bed and Breakfast Accommodation

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  which local authorities have housed families in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of families who have stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the percentage change in the number of families who have stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks year-to-year over the last five years;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of using bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless households in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Grant Shapps: The vast majority of local authorities have no families in bed and breakfast accommodation over six weeks, and the numbers of households with children in bed and breakfast accommodation remain at historically low levels. However, I am concerned that a small number of authorities are placing families in bed and breakfast accommodation beyond the six-week limit.
	I have written to 20 local authorities that, between them, account for almost 80% of families in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, reiterating the Government's position that this practice is unacceptable, urging them to prioritise elimination of the use of long-term bed and breakfast accommodation for families and offering support from my Department to do so.
	The Government have increased levels of funding on homelessness and announced an additional £70 million investment over the last year. We are introducing changes through the Localism Act which will give local authorities increased flexibility to use the private rented sector to meet their homelessness duties and reduce the need for them to place any families in bed and breakfast accommodation.
	A table has been placed in the Library of the House. This shows the number of households with dependant children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants who had been in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months at local authority level. It also shows the number of households in that category which had been accommodated pending a review or appeal.
	The following table shows, for the last five years, the England totals of households in temporary accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman in bed and breakfast accommodation who had been resident for six weeks or more at the end of each quarter. Some of the households included in the table had been accommodated pending a review of appeal, rather than in the exercise of a duty.
	
		
			  March June September as at end December 
			 2007 80 100 130 120 
			 2008 160 180 160 100 
			 2009 70 80 130 120 
			 2010 100 160 140 150 
			 2011 200 240 400 450 
			 Note: Numbers of households are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Quarterly PIE returns 
		
	
	Statistical releases on statutory homelessness are available both in the Library of the House and via the DCLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness/
	Outturn information on local authority expenditure on bed and breakfast accommodation for 2011-12 will be published in November 2012. This level of detailed information is not available for budget estimates.

Building Regulations

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of building regulations.

Andrew Stunell: The Department set out its views on the current enforcement provisions for building regulations along with proposals for changes which would make the arrangements more effective in a consultation document, “2012 consultation on changes to the Building Regulations in England: Section four—the building control system”, which is available at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/brconsultationsection4
	The consultation closed on 27 April 2012 and the Department is currently preparing a summary and analysis of the responses which will be published later in the year. Decisions on how to take the proposed changes forward will be made in the light of the responses received.

Departmental Staff: Party Affiliation

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what (a) grants and (b) contracts his Department has awarded to companies or organisations run by individuals who were previously employed in any capacity by (i) the Conservative Party or its elected representatives and (ii) the Liberal Democrat Party or its elected representatives since May 2010; what the (A) value and (B) nature was of these contracts; and whether they were publicly advertised;
	(2)  what (a) grants and (b) contracts his Department has awarded to companies or organisations run by individuals who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative Party and (ii) Liberal Democrat Party since May 2010; what the (A) value and (B) nature was of these contracts; and whether they were publicly advertised;
	(3)  which individuals have been paid by his Department for consultancy or other services who were previously employed in any capacity by the (a) Conservative Party or its elected representatives and (b) Liberal Democrat Party or its elected representatives since May 2010; what the (i) cost and (ii) nature was of the services provided; and whether they were publicly advertised;
	(4)  which individuals have been paid by his Department for consultancy or other services who previously held an elected position as a member of the (a) Conservative Party and (b) Liberal Democrat Party since May 2010; what the (i) cost and (ii) nature was of the services provided; and whether they were publicly advertised.

Bob Neill: As part of this Government's transparency agenda, since 2010 all contracts over the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder.
	Figures on spending over £500 are published on my Department's website as part of our wider transparency agenda.

Departmental Staff: Political Affiliation

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by his Department since May 2010 
	(1)  who was previously employed in any capacity by the (i) Conservative Party or its elected representatives and (ii) Liberal Democrat Party or its elected representatives; and whether their position was advertised publicly;
	(2)  who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative Party and (ii) Liberal Democrat Party; and whether their position was advertised publicly.

Bob Neill: To collect any such information would require a search of all HR records, which would involve disproportionate costs.

Non-domestic Rates

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses in (a) England, (b) the south-west and (c) Newton Abbot constituency qualify for small business rate relief.

Bob Neill: The number of hereditaments in receipt of small business rate relief as at 31 December 2010 in England, the south-west and Teignbridge local authority are shown in the following table. Data on the number of businesses who qualify for small business rate relief are not centrally collected. The data are also not available at constituency level, but businesses in Newton Abbot constituency will form part of the total for Teignbridge local authority.
	
		
			  Number of businesses in receipt of small business rate relief as at 31 December 2010 
			 England 460,000 
			 South West 61,026 
			 Teignbridge local authority 1,875 
		
	
	The data are taken from the National Non-Domestic Rates 1 (NNDR1) Supplementary forms completed annually by billing authorities in England and returned to the Department of Communities and Local Government. The data are publicly available in tables in the statistics section of the DCLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/nondomesticrates201112f
	Reforms in the Localism Act will make it easier for small firms to claim the small business rate relief to which they are entitled.

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

Bob Neill: The Department's expenditure is published annually through the laying in Parliament of the Department's annual report and accounts. A copy of the accounts for 2009-10 and 2010-11 can be found in the Library of the House or at the following link:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/about/howwework/corporatereports/reportsaccounts/annualreports/
	The Department's annual report and accounts for 2011-12 are intended to be laid in Parliament before the summer recess. In the meantime, quarterly information about expenditure during 2011-12 can be found in the Business Plan Quarterly Data Summary published by my Department at the following link:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/quarterlydatasummaryjan12
	The Department monitors and reviews its budgets and spend on a monthly basis, to reduce the risk of large underspends at the end of the financial year. Where an underspend is unavoidable at the end of a financial year, the Department looks at opportunities to bring forward spend or liabilities from future years in a way that offers value for money. The Department also uses the Treasury's budget exchange system to move unspent funds into future financial years, up to the permitted limits.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: My Department has not created or spun off any new public sector mutuals in 2010-11 or 2011-12. The Government have committed that every Department will put in place Rights to Provide for public sector workers to take over the running of services, and DCLG is working towards this.

Social Rented Housing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home swaps have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct scheme in (a) Mid-Dorset and North Poole constituency and (b) England.

Grant Shapps: HomeSwap Direct was launched in October 2011 to allow social tenants who wish to move through a mutual exchange to see details of all possible properties nationwide. The scheme has operated very successfully since its launch, with tenants carrying out over 1 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct.
	Details of the number of moves that have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct scheme in (a) Mid-Dorset and North Poole constituency and (b) England are not held centrally.

Social Rented Housing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what account is taken of bedroom size when allocating social housing; and what ability local authorities have to determine whether bedrooms are appropriately sized in their Allocations Policy.

Grant Shapps: It is for local authorities to decide what account is taken of bedroom size when allocating housing. When framing the rules in their allocation policy that determine the number and size of bedrooms to allocate to different households, authorities are free to set their own criteria, provided they do not result in a household being statutorily overcrowded.
	We have issued draft guidance to local authorities reminding them, when setting these criteria, of the need to take account of the provisions in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 which will reduce housing benefit for social sector tenants of working age who under-occupy their property.

Social Rented Housing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers local authorities have to determine the bands into which those waiting for housing should be placed.

Grant Shapps: The Localism Act maintains the statutory reasonable preference requirements in the allocation legislation, which are designed to ensure that overall priority for social housing is given to those who need it most.
	Otherwise, it is for local authorities to decide on what principles their allocation scheme is framed, including whether to prioritise housing applicants into bands, and which bands to place them in.

Temporary Accommodation

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what representations he has received on the treatment by local authorities of households in temporary accommodation to whom a statutory homelessness duty has been assumed and where housing costs take their assumed income above the household benefit cap;
	(2)  what guidance he has issued to local authorities on discharging their duty to place homeless households into accommodation which will leave them with notional income above the household benefit cap and which also respects local connections.

Grant Shapps: The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 1996 sets out those factors a local authority should consider when determining whether or not accommodation is affordable. The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities, updated in 2006, includes statutory guidance on the suitability of accommodation into which homeless households may be placed, including location and affordability. It also includes guidance on local connection, which was amended in 2008 to reflect changes made by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
	The treatment by local authorities of homeless households who may be affected by the household benefit cap is an issue of balance between location and affordability. This was raised by a number of voluntary sector organisations and in responses to our consultation “Local Decisions: Next steps towards a fairer future for social housing” and extensively debated during the passage of the Localism Act.
	We are actively considering the issue of local authorities placing families so far away from their previous home and we will announce proposals shortly.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time; and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12;
	(2)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse;
	(3)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12.

Bob Neill: The following tables set out the number of trade union representatives in the Department for Communities and Local Government and its non-departmental bodies and facility time and cost details.
	Number of representatives
	
		
			 Number of trade union representatives 
			  Full-time Part-time 
			 Department for Communities and Local Government 2 11 
			 Homes and Communities Agency — 12 
			 Fire Service College — 10 
			 Planning Inspectorate (PINS) — 27 
			 Local Government Ombudsman — 5 
			 Audit Commission — 7 
			 Independent Housing Ombudsman Ltd — 2 
			 Valuation Tribunal Service — 2 
			 Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Valuation Tribunal for England, Building Regulations Advisory Committee, Architects Registration Board, West Northants Development Corporation, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and the Leasehold Advisory Service (1)— (1)— 
			 (1) No trade union representatives 
		
	
	Facility time details and costs
	
		
			 Department for Communities and Local Government 
			 Trade union representative Trade union duties Trade union activities Day total /£ 
			 1 (full-time) 208 7 215 
			 2 (full-time) 211 4 215 
			 3 30 23.5 53.5 
			 4 61 24 85 
			 5 12 8.5 20.5 
			 6 3 3 6 
			 7 2.25 8.5 10.75 
			 8 4 3.25 7.25 
			 9 1.25 1.25 2.5 
			 10 0 17.75 17.75 
			 11 1.5 0.5 2 
			 12 4 2 6 
			 13 6 0 6 
			 Total days   647.25 
			     
			 Total cost   £140,687 
		
	
	Non-departmental bodies
	
		
			 Valuation Tribunal Service 
			 Trade union representative Days /£ 
			 1 3 
			 2 2 
			 Total days (1)5 
		
	
	
		
			   
			 Total cost £1,834.84 
			 (1) All for trade union activities 
		
	
	
		
			 The Audit Commission 
			 Trade union representative Days /£ 
			 1 162.9 
			 2 143.3 
			 3 31.3 
			 4 19.7 
			 5 9.2 
			 6 4.6 
			 7 4.5 
			 Total days 275.5 
			   
			 Total cost £116,984.75 
		
	
	The Audit Commission does not collect records regarding the amount of time spent by each trade union representative on trade union duties and activities in 2011-12.
	
		
			  Total days Total cost (£) 
			 Homes and Communities Agency 74 37,000 
			 Planning Inspectorate 628.8 119,889 
		
	
	The Homes and Communities Agency and the Planning Inspectorate do not collect records regarding the amount of time spent by each trade union representative on trade union duties and activities in 2011-12.
	The Local Government Ombudsman, the Independent Housing Ombudsman Ltd and the Fire Service College do not collect facility time or cost information on their trade union representatives.
	The Government have announced their intention to commence a consultation shortly with the civil service trade unions on limiting the amount of paid time civil servants can spend on trade union duties and activities and ending the practice of having civil servants engaged full time in trade union representative roles.

HEALTH

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012;
	(2)  what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Simon Burns: The Department (including NHS Connecting for Health) has introduced a number of measures to reduce its carbon emissions. These include:
	(a) 2010
	Introduction of more energy efficient computers
	Decommissioning of information technology (IT) servers
	Upgrading ventilation and air conditioning units
	Upgrade of lighting
	(b) 2011
	Upgrade of Building Management Systems
	Improved control of air handling units
	Shutting down heating earlier
	(c) 2012
	Introduction of LED lighting
	Consideration of using air blades systems
	Pump upgrades
	Other measures that the Department and NHS Connecting for Health have introduced over the period include:
	Reduction of fleet emissions;
	Use of secondary metering to monitor server rooms;
	Introduction of a managed print service; and
	Automatic switch off of all IT equipment and moving to the Closed Loop framework contract for recycling of waste paper. NHS Connecting for Health already uses this framework.
	The Department’s gross carbon emissions for energy and travel for 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2011 were 10,653 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission and from 2 April 2011 to 1 April 2012 were an estimated 9,324 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Clinical Psychologists: Prison Service

Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) chartered psychologists, (b) trainee psychologists and (c) psychological assistants have been employed by the Prison Service in the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
	Information on the number of (a) chartered psychologists, (b) trainee psychologists and (c) psychological assistants employed within the Prison Service over the last five years is contained in the following table. Psychologists engaged on a sessional basis are not included. Information on private sector establishments has been provided by individual contractors.
	
		
			 Psychologists employed in the public sector Prison Service, 31 March 2008 to 2012 
			 Grade 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Psychologists(1) 344 332 274 267 251 
			 Trainee Psychologist 317 312 331 328 307 
			 Psychological Assistant 401 373 372 425 420 
			 Total 1,062 1,017 977 1,020 978 
			 (1) The HR database does not record which psychologists are chartered. Information is provided for psychologists in manager grades E to G and senior manager grades A to D. 
		
	
	
		
			 Psychologists employed in contracted establishments, 31 March 2008 to 2012 
			 Grade 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Psychologist(1) 10 8 10 11 10 
			 Trainee 23 30 30 27 24 
			 Assistant 16 13 12 25 19 
			 Total 49 51 52 63 53 
			 (1) It is not recorded by every contractor whether the psychologists are chartered.

Eyesight: Testing

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people over the age of 60 received a free eye test in each of the last three years.

Simon Burns: The following table shows the number of national health service sight tests for persons aged 60 and over in England from 1999-2000 to 2010-11. This information has been extracted from the report, “General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England, Year ending 31 March 2011”. This report is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gosactivity1011
	Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would be recorded against only one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need, rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60, with glaucoma, is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Patients may also have had more than one sight test in the specified time period.
	
		
			 Annex C, Table A1 :  NHS sight tests, by patient eligibility, in England, as at the specified financial years 
			  1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999 - 2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002- 03 2003-04 
			 Aged 60 and over 0 0 0 3,301,412 3,753,315 4,012,946 4,135,615 4,308,889 
			 Children 0-15 2,353,696 2,385,520 2,458,944 2,425,666 2,404,037 2,374,943 2,284,368 2,236,329 
			 Students 16-18 515,321 507,983 477,013 468,221 454,319 487,882 468,735 456,614 
			 Adults receiving income support(1) 1,905,505 1,975,057 1,781,740 1,359,767 1,158,854 1,082,048 963,281 953,325 
			 Adults receiving tax credits 358,073 335,711 341,887 328,471 360,033 450,475 412,478 474,541 
			 Adults receiving JSA(2) 28,983 66,068 176,562 219,654 211,827 230,050 207,703 201,487 
			 Low income certificate holders (HC2) 331,134 316,700 301,784 226,694 189,899 164,262 166,784 149,033 
			 Registered blind/partially sighted 36,380 40,810 40,914 21,783 19,604 18,948 17,850 19,834 
			 Diabetics/Glaucoma sufferers 604,841 644,345 685,107 469,375 451,601 432,819 448,147 474,385 
			 Need complex lenses 84,409 86,276 80,498 66,029 67,462 61,129 66,268 71,418 
		
	
	
		
			 Close relatives 40 and over of Glaucoma sufferers 589,347 632,740 647,857 512,341 496,182 491,898 490,820 499,404 
			 Prisoner on Leave n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Unallocated 22 45 28 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 6,807,711 6,991,255 6,992,334 9,399,416 9,567,135 9,807,403 9,662,052 9,845,259 
		
	
	
		
			  2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Aged 60 and over 4,303,128 4,450,007 4,518,672 4,860,912 5,015,536 5,191,773 5,305,177 
			 Children 0-15 2,206,853 2,168,542 2,113,479 2,299,159 2,313,500 2,460,089 2,449,831 
			 Students 16-18 463,568 467,487 490,762 507,918 516,837 528,512 543,199 
			 Adults receiving income support(1) 1,091,019 1,085,424 1,170,055 1,119,650 1,107,692 1,085,346 1,085,496 
			 Adults receiving tax credits 528,409 538,779 569,833 660,736 675,514 689,091 696,757 
			 Adults receiving JSA(2) 195,783 218,689 236,126 225,782 239,556 313,205 309,283 
			 Low income certificate holders (HC2) 152,534 142,796 133, S80 127,542 119,667 104,549 91,599 
			 Registered blind/partially sighted 22,227 22,304 28,431 18,764 21,275 21,929 14,385 
			 Diabetics/Glaucoma sufferers 589,465 646,628 597,773 591,954 605,302 708,631 723,921 
			 Need complex lenses 72,312 70,295 86,816 82,476 75,122 62,732 73,297 
			 Close relatives 40 and over of Glaucoma sufferers 523,680 543,605 539,345 552,997 588,114 644,244 644,450 
			 Prisoner on Leave n/a n/a n/a n/a 360 1,550 1,134 
			 Unallocated 0 122 50 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 10,148,978 10,354,682 10,484,922 11,047,890 11,278,474 11,811,651 11,938,529 
			 n/a = Not applicable. Prisoner on Leave was introduced in October 2008. (1) Income support includes patients receiving pension credit guarantee credit as well as income-related employment and support allowance, which was Introduced in October 2008. (2) Job seeker’s allowance. Notes: 1. From 1 April 1999, eligibility for an NHS sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over. 2. Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would be recorded against only one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60 with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

General Practitioners: Pay

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost to the public purse was of the Quality and Outcomes Framework bonus system paid to GPs in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Quality and Outcomes Framework is a voluntary incentive scheme for general practitioner practices to implement evidence-based standards that improve the quality of care delivered to patients. Audited expenditure from primary care trust financial returns in England for the last five years is shown as follows:
	
		
			  £ billion 
			 2006-07 1.040 
			 2007-08 1.062 
			 2008-09 1.068 
			 2009-10 1.080 
			 2010-11 1.096

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Child Poverty Action Group, (v) ResPublica, (vi) the Centre for Social Justice and (vii) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Simon Burns: Details of ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Department's website at:
	http://transparency.dh.gov.uk/category/transparency/ministerial-gifts-hospitality/
	To search the diaries of officials and publish the minutes and agendas of any meetings would involve disproportionate cost.

Mental Health Services: Veterans

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidance to clinical commissioning groups on how to support the mental health needs of former service personnel.

Simon Burns: The exact procedures which the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), and the rest of the ministerial team will use to communicate their wishes to the clinical commissioning groups have not yet been defined. However, commissioning for military health and veterans-related services and the way in which this will work is a priority for both the Ministry of Defence and the Department—monthly meetings of the commissioning sub-group take place to work through related issues.
	Under current arrangements, the Secretary of State does not issue guidance directly to the primary care trusts (PCTs). The NHS Operating Framework is published every year and guides the strategic health authorities (SHAs) as to the key areas on which they need to focus their attentions in that time period, and this filters down to PCT level. Additionally, the Department has established 10 Armed Forces Networks—one in each of the ‘old’ SHA areas. The networks have a direct impact on work carried out regionally as they work closely with general practitioners, providers and commissioners in each local area to ensure that services for veterans are developed and resourced in the most effective way possible. Funding is also allocated to each network from the centre and filtered down via the networks for use on veterans' mental health projects. All funding approved by the Department is for clinically evidenced National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence-approved services. The Department is currently putting in place a mental health clinical advisory group to provide additional support in this area.

Mental Health Services: Veterans

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the treatment pathway and services to support former service personnel with mental health problems.

Simon Burns: This Government have put a great deal of work into improving mental health services for veterans. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) published his ‘Fighting Fit’ report into the mental health and wellbeing of serving personnel and veterans in October 2010. The report contained a number of recommendations for the improvement of mental health services for this group, and these are in the process of being implemented, within a £7.2 million budget which was assigned to the area shortly after the report was released. Dr Murrison recommended an uplift in the number of community veterans' mental health workers in each region. Following the publication of the report the Department consulted with its 10 Armed Forces Networks as to how this should be implemented in order to add value to the existing arrangements in each area. In order to do this, treatment pathways and service availability were assessed in each region, which then came up with proposals for new services. These were sent to the Department for scrutiny. The result of this was that integrated veterans' mental health services are now up and running in the majority of the network areas, with the remainder to follow by the end of the calendar year. All services and treatments approved by the Department and which make use of departmental funds are clinically evidenced and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence-approved.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting.

Simon Burns: For the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the total block of time for industrial relations and trade union activities duties is agreed centrally between human resources (HR) and the departmental trade unions. This is called facility time and is granted at three levels:
	Accredited representatives who work ‘full time’ on industrial relations duties (100%)—these are funded directly by a budget held centrally by HR;
	Accredited representatives who spend significant time on industrial relations (less than 100%—5%) funded by local business area and the central budget reimburses for time spent; and
	Accredited representatives who spend limited time on industrial relations (less than 5%), normally Branch Executive Committee members of floor stewards, granted reasonable time for these duties—but not met centrally or counted towards the total time referred above. As minimal, this is met by local business areas.
	We do not hold records of every meeting in a way that identifies business as set out in the four categories outlined in the above question, but we can confirm that:
	Pay Committee meetings are held on a monthly basis covering collective bargaining and negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions;
	Quarterly Department Trade Union side (DTUS) and annual Departmental Industrial Relations Council (DIRC) meetings are held covering other trade union and industrial relations duties; and
	Meetings covering redundancies are held as and when required during times of departmental change/restructuring.
	The Government are soon to start consulting civil service trades unions about current facility time practices.
	The response for the Department’s non-departmental public bodies is summarised in the table.
	The following table shows how many meetings have taken place between those non-departmental bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties. It also shows the dates and times and/or duration of each meeting:
	
		
			 Care Quality Commission (CQC) 
			  (i) Total number of meetings Date Time (ii) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-2008 n/a CQC was established on 1 April 2009 and we have no data available for our predecessor organisations 
			        
			 2008-2009 n/a CQC was established on 1 April 2009 and we have no data available for our predecessor organisations 
			        
			 2009-2010 3 14 January 2010 1330-1630 8 2 February 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 February 2010 1330-1630  4 February 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 March 2010 1330-1630  8 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      10 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      24 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      8 March 2010 1430-1630 
			      18 March 2010 1430-1630 
			      22 March 2010 1430-1630 
			        
			 2010-2011 11   16 19 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   19 April 2010 1330-1630  14 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   17 May 2010 1330-1630  19 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 June 2010 1330-1630  13 May 2010 1430-1630 
			   12 July 2010 1330-1630  15 June 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 August 2010 1330-1630  29 June 2010 1430-1630 
			   13 September 2010 1330-1630  20 July 2010 1430-1630 
			   11 October 2010 1330-1630  3 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 November 2010 1330-1630  11 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   13 November 2010 1330-1630  24 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 February 2011 0930-1230  7 September 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 March 2011 0930-1230  21 September 2010 1430-1630 
			      28 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      12 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      21 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      26 October 2010 1430-1630 
			        
			 2011-2012 12 20 April 2011 0930-1230 6 2 April 2012 1100-1300 
			   18 May 2011 0930-1230  12 April 2012 1400-1500 
			   15 June 2011 0930-1230  17 April 2012 1500-1600 
			   20 July 2011 0930-1230  27 April 2012 1130-1300 
			   21 September 2011 0930-1230  1 May 2012 1300-1600 
			   24 October 2011 1300-1600  11 May 2012 1100-1300 
			   24 November 2011 1400-1700    
			   11 January 2012 1330-1700    
			   8 February 2012 1300-1500    
			   7 March 2012 1300-1528    
			   11 April 2012 1300-1500    
			   9 May 2012 1300-1600    
		
	
	
		
			  (iii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iv) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-2008  
			        
			 2008-2009  
			        
			 2009-2010    12 14 December 2009 1330-1430 
			      14 January 2010 1330-1430 
		
	
	
		
			      2 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      4 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      8 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      10 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      24 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      8 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      18 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      22 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      15 February 2010 1230-1330 
			      15 March 2010 1230-1330 
			        
			 2010-2011 5 26 January 2011 1500-1700 42 19 April 2010 1230-1330 
			   8 February 2011 1500-1800  17 May 2010 1230-1330 
			   17 February2011 1300-1700  15 June 2010 1330-1330 
			   2 March 2011 1300-1700  23 June 2010 1330-1330 
			   8 March 2011 1330-1700  29 June 2010 1330-1330 
			      20 July 2010 1230-1330 
			      16 June 2010 1230-1330 
			      12 July 2010 1330-1430 
			      20 July 2010 1330-1430 
			      3 August 2010 1330-1430 
			      11 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      16 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      24 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      7 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      13 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      21 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      28 September 2010 1230-1330 
			      11 October 2010 1330-1430 
			      12 October 2010 1330-1430 
			      26 October 2010 1230-1330 
			      11 November 2010 1230-1330 
			      15 November 2010 1330-1430 
			      23 November 2010 1230-1330 
			      13 November 2010 1330-1430 
			      21 December10 1330-1430 
			      25 January 2011 1330-1430 
			      16 February 2011 1230-1330 
			      16 March 2011 1330-1430 
			      13 April 2011 0830-0930 
			      20 April 2011 1330-1430 
			      18 May 2011 1330-1430 
			      8 June 2011 0830-0930 
			      3 August 2011 0830-0930 
			      24 August 2011 0830-0930 
			      19 September 2011 0830-0930 
			      4 October 2011 0830-0930 
			      10 October 2011 0830-0930 
			      26 October 2011 1200-1300 
			      9 November 2011 1400-1300 
			      28 November 2011 1400-1500 
			      8 December 2011 1400-1500 
		
	
	
		
			      21 December 2011 1200-1300 
			        
			 2011-2012 17 6 April 2011 1300-1700 15 20 April 2011 1200-1300 
			   13 April 2011 1300-1400  18 May 2011 1230-1330 
			   20 April 2011 1300-1430  15 June 2011 0800-0900 
			   18 May 2011 1330-1700  20 July 2011 1200-1300 
			   8 June 2011 0900-1100  21 September 2011 1200-1300 
			   3 August 2011 1300-1700  24 October 2011 0830-0930 
			   24 August 2011 1300-1700  24 November 2011 0830-1030 
			   19 September 2011 0930-1300  26 January 2011 1200-1300 
			   4 October 2011 1030-1300  8 February 2011 1230-1330 
			   10 October 2011 1300-1700  17 February 2011 1200-1400 
			   26 October 2011 1330-1700  2 March 2011 1200-1400 
			   9 November 2011 1430-1700  8 March 2011 1300-1400 
			   28 November 2011 1430-1700  6 April 2011 0900-1100 
			   8 December 2011 1430-1700  1 March 2012 0830-0930 
			   21 December 2011 1100-1300  27 March 2012 1230-1330 
			   1 March 2012 0930-1030    
			   27 March 2012 1330-1500    
		
	
	
		
			 General Social Care Council 
			  (i) Total number of meetings Date Time (ii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iv) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-08 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 
			              
			 2008-09 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 
			              
			 2009-10 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 4 January 2hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			         February     
			              
			 2010-11 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 4 January 2hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			         February     
			              
			 2011-12 0 n/a n/a 3 27 January 2hrs 2 February 2 hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			      24 February 2hrs       
			      2 April 2hrs

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Football

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will take steps to investigate reform of the football creditors rule.

Hugh Robertson: The Government support the recommendation of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for a change to the present rule.
	At the same time, we recognise the legal issues under consideration and the current legal challenge being brought by HMRC against the Football League. We await the outcome of the court's decision on this before deciding what further steps may be needed.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

John Penrose: No items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more have been lost by the Department in the last two years.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

John Penrose: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), Ministers and senior officials in the Department have not met with representatives of the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Institute of Economic Affairs, ResPublica, or Policy Exchange.
	The Minister for Sport and the Olympics, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson), met with representatives of the Centre for Social Justice on 21 March 2011 to discuss a report on the 2012 sports legacy. No minutes were taken.
	A senior official met with the chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance on 29 March 2012 to discuss philanthropy. No minutes were taken.

Members

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 30 March 2012 with regard to Ms L Watson.

John Penrose: The subject of this correspondence is a matter for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Therefore, this letter has been transferred to it to provide a response.

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

John Penrose: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) expenditure against its departmental expenditure limit (DEL) from April 2009 to March 2012, is shown in the table.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 April 189.1 171.5 336.9 
			 May 182.3 251.5 199.3 
			 June 254.3 259.5 271.3 
			 July 177.6 198.4 264.6 
			 August 161.4 173.6 137.8 
			 September 160.6 147.6 213.3 
			 October 208.5 225.2 176.3 
			 November 137.6 107.4 158 
			 December 188 143 238.1 
			 January 107.6 142.9 208.3 
			 February 179.8 196.3 224.4 
			 March 222.6 80.8 376.2 
			 Total 2,169.5 2,097.7 2,804.5 
		
	
	The nature of the expenditure limit, which is set by the Treasury and agreed by Parliament, is such that DCMS is required not to overspend its budget each year. The Department also takes a variety of steps to monitor any potential material underspend (for example if a programme is delayed). The most notable of these are:
	Monthly monitoring and reporting of expenditure across DCMS and its arm's length bodies (ALBs)
	Maintenance of a risk tracker to provide early warning of potential variances before they arise
	Active management of the budget across budget heads and between years

Tourism

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the value to the UK economy of outbound tourism.

John Penrose: The Government's Tourism Policy, published in March 2011, outlines the UK Government's approach to the visitor economy as a whole—including outbound tourism—both for leisure and business purposes. Further information can be found on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's website, or by using the following link:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/7896.aspx
	No official estimate has been made of the precise value of the outbound sector, but ABTA's recent report estimated that outbound travel directly contributes over £22 billion to the economy, representing 1.6% of UK GDP. With the inclusion of contributions made by industries supplying the sector, the total economic impact rises to over £54 billion, or 3.8% of UK GDP. ABTA's report has been published on its website and can be found using the following link:
	http://www.abta.com/resources/news/view/491
	The Office for National Statistics records that UK residents spent £31.0 billion abroad in 2011.
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-263688

PRIME MINISTER

Ministers: Code of Practice

Harriet Harman: To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his oral answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, columns 1241-2, on the Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary), if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Civil Service to all Departments on 25 April 2012 clarifying the rigorous procedures for handling cases of a quasi-judicial nature.

David Cameron: A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Biofuels: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information her Department holds on the level of (a) hexavalent chromium, (b) chromium, (c) titanium dioxide, (d) particulates and (e) arsenic emitted to the atmosphere from biomass plants in the UK in the latest year for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA's National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) estimates emissions to the atmosphere of a wide range of air pollutants. The most recent available estimates are for 2010 and are as follows. All the data relate to emissions from non-domestic combustion of wood and straw and excludes open burning of wood waste.
	(a) Emissions of hexavalent chromium from biomass plants were estimated at 16 tonnes, 0.4% of the total national emission.
	(b) Emissions of chromium are estimated at 160 tonnes, 0.6% of the national total. The NAEI estimates that 10% of chromium is present in the hexavalent form in emissions from combustion processes.
	(c) Emissions of titanium dioxide have not been assessed.
	(d) The NAEI provides information on emissions of particulate matter in a number of size ranges. The emissions of particles less than 10 micrometers (PM10) were 5,700 tonnes and of those less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) were 3,200 tonnes. This represents 5% of UK emissions for both size fractions.
	(e) The emissions of arsenic to air were 130 tonnes, 1% of total UK emissions.

Biofuels: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which (a) incineration and (b) biomass plants are permitted to burn wood containing chromated copper arsenate.

Richard Benyon: There are 15 incinerators in England and Wales that are permitted to burn wood coated with preservatives containing heavy metals, including chromated copper arsenate. No biomass plants are permitted to burn separately collected fractions of such wastes. The permitted sites are as follows:
	
		
			 Environment Agency region Site 
			 Anglian Twinwoods Heat and Power Ltd 
			 Anglian Huntingdon Waste to Energy Plant 
			 Midlands Stoke Alternative Energy Centre 
			 Yorkshire and North East Wilton 10 Power Station 
			 Yorkshire and North East Sandsfield Co-Incinerator 
			 Yorkshire and North East North Shields Waste to Energy Plant 
			 Yorkshire and North East Port Clarence Waste Recovery 
			 Yorkshire and North East Yatts Biomass Energy Recovery Demonstration Plant 
			 Yorkshire and North East Seamer Carr Waste to Energy Plant 
			 Yorkshire and North East Kirk Sandall Thermal Treatment Plant 
			 North West Ellesmere Port Incinerator 
			 South East Fawley Energy From Waste Facility 
		
	
	
		
			 South East Fawley High Temperature Incinerator 
			 South West Peake (GB) Ltd 
			 Wales Tythegston Gasification Plant

Biofuels: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the amount of (a) Strontium 90 and (b) Caesium 137 that was released in stack emissions and wood ash from biomass power stations in the UK in the last year for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: Emissions from biomass power stations in England and Wales are regulated by the Environment Agency. The agency has not made any such estimates because these are anthropogenic radioisotopes that would not normally be present above trace quantities in biomass feedstock and so offer no potential threat to human health.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent progress her Department has made on developing new measures on the control of bovine tuberculosis.

Richard Benyon: In July 2011, DEFRA published a Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England setting out a package of measures to tackle the disease. Delivery of the programme is continuing, including work on both cattle and badger controls and development of vaccines. The programme is available at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13601-bovinetb-eradication-programme-110719.pdf

Departmental Staff: Political Affiliation

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by her Department since May 2010 who was previously employed in any capacity by the (i) Conservative party or its elected representatives and (ii) Liberal Democrat party or its elected representatives; and whether their position was advertised publicly;
	(2)  what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by her Department since May 2010 who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative party and (ii) Liberal Democrat party; and whether their position was advertised publicly.

Richard Benyon: To collect any such information would require a search of all HR records, which would involve disproportionate costs.

Consultants

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 1336-7W, on consultants, what additional payments were made to IBM to conduct the feasibility study and assist in setting up the shared service centre.

Richard Benyon: This information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Floods: Stoke on Trent

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many homes in Stoke-on-Trent were at high risk of flooding in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: There are a total of 1,219 residential properties at significant risk of flooding in Stoke-on-Trent.

Food

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to support the food industry and food exports.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA works closely with the food industry to encourage innovation, competitiveness and growth. The joint government-industry action plan, ‘Driving Export Growth in the Farming, Food and Drink Sector’, published in January, details how we will work together to open up and take advantage of key markets to boost our economy and generate jobs.
	DEFRA is working with other funders (Technology Strategy Board, Research Councils) and industry to boost innovation through collaborative research and development through investment in a £90 million Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform. We recently held an innovation summit to increase awareness of innovation support mechanisms available to the agri-food industry.
	New opportunities in overseas markets are important to the UK's long-term growth prospects for the sector and, as such, the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Mr Paice), has recently been to China to promote UK exports with the aim of opening up markets there.
	Equally important for promoting long-term growth is our aim to encourage young people to build careers in the food production industry. DEFRA has worked with the food chain to facilitate the development of a skills action plan for the food chain, with the aim of making the industry more attractive to young people and identifying skills required for the future food system. The Action Plan was launched last June.

Horses: Infectious Diseases

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to counter and prepare for a possible outbreak of African horse disease in the UK.

Richard Benyon: The likelihood of the introduction of the African Horse Sickness (AHS) virus to the UK via legal trade in horses and other equidae is considered very low but, should disease occur, we recognise that the impact could be high. Any outbreak would be managed in accordance with DEFRA's Contingency Plan for Exotic Diseases of Animals, which is regularly tested. DEFRA has been working closely with representatives of the equine sector, through a joint Government and Industry Working Group, to agree a control strategy setting out what would happen should we get an outbreak of AHS. We have reached agreement with the Working Group on the control measures needed and expect to publish this control strategy shortly.

Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many full-time equivalent employees 
	(1)  her Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed at the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  have (a) left and (b) been recruited to her Department in the last two years.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA employed 2,560.36 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees on 31 May 2010 and 2,072.79 on 30 April 2012.
	In the last two years (i.e. 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2012), 681.18 FTE employees left DEFRA. This figure includes 99.75 FTE legal staff who transferred from DEFRA to Treasury Solicitors on 31 August 2011.
	364.31 FTE employees joined DEFRA between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2012. This figure includes 101.40 FTE staff transferred to DEFRA from the regional development agencies on 1 July 2011.

Power Stations: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reduce emissions to the atmosphere of (a) carcinogens and (b) particulates arising from power stations.

Richard Benyon: Any combustion activity with a rated thermal input of greater than 50 megawatts is subject to integrated pollution prevention and control. The regulator (the Environment Agency in England and Wales) is required to set emission limits for any pollutant likely to be emitted in significant quantities, basing those limits on what can be achieved through the application of best available techniques (BATs). The regulator has to review those limits periodically as BATs develop.

Risk Assessment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what strategic or transitional risk registers in each area of policy are held by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA's 2010-11 Annual Report and Accounts contained a Statement on Internal Control (page 55)
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/07/26/annual-report-accounts-2010-11/
	which included information on DEFRA's risk and control framework and the effectiveness of DEFRA's risk management.
	Each policy team takes a proportionate and appropriate approach to assessing the risks in its area and discusses these frequently with Ministers when advising them of policy options.
	Updated information on DEFRA's risk management and its key risks will be available in the 2012 Annual Report and Accounts.

Sheep

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has assessed the merits of sheep farming in less favoured areas.

Richard Benyon: The Uplands Policy Review, published in March 2011, recognised the important role played by sheep farms, particularly in relation to shaping the environment. This important role, particularly in the uplands, is recognised within Environmental Stewardship and appropriate payments are available. On 9 May 2011, the National Sheep Association launched a report entitled ‘Complementary Role of Sheep In Less Favoured Areas’. The report draws on the support of many other organisations with environmental and agricultural interests that agree that traditional sheep farming practices can bring a host of environmental, social, and economic benefits to these remote and disadvantaged areas.

UN Conference on Sustainable Development

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on working with schools and organisations representing young people to consult on priorities for the Rio Earth Summit 2012; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), is leading the Government's preparations for Rio+20; the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has been involved, through the normal course of Cabinet business. Preparations for Rio+20 have involved extensive consultation with civil society organisations, including those representing young people.

TRANSPORT

A683

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects the M6 to Heysham Link Road to be completed.

Norman Baker: The latest information provided to the Department by the scheme promoter—Lancashire county council—is that the scheme will be finished by December 2015. This will require statutory procedures to be completed and the approval of the Secretary of State for Transport on the amendments to the orders.

A683

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) homes and (b) businesses will be compulsorily purchased to facilitate the route of the M6 to Heysham Link Road; and how much on average it will cost to buy each (i) home and (ii) business.

Norman Baker: The Department does not hold the information requested. These are matters for the scheme promoter, Lancashire county council.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more her Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Department (including its seven Executive agencies) has not lost any individual items of equipment valued at over £10,000 in the last two financial years. However, the Highways Agency has suffered incidents of metal theft, details of which will be disclosed in the Agency's 2012-13 Annual Report and Accounts which is due to be published at the end of June.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to her Department in the last two years.

Norman Baker: The following figures are for the central Department and its seven Executive Agencies:
	
		
			 Financial year (a) Employees left the Department (b) Employees recruited to the Department 
			 (i) 2010-2011 1382.4 577.53 
			 (ii) 2011- 2012 1111.33 692.38 
		
	
	The majority of the employees recruited were recruited from within the civil service.

Midland Main Line

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the likely increase in (a) freight and (b) passenger capacity of upgrading and then electrifying the Midland Mainline.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail is assessing the business case for upgrading and electrifying the Midland Main line, which could support additional freight and passenger capacity. The Department for Transport will announce overall decisions on rail investment in the period from 2014 to 2019 by the end of July.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun off by her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: In the Department for Transport, no new public sector mutuals were created or spun off in the financial years quoted.
	Officials are currently working closely with Cabinet Office colleagues on Better Business Models. DVLA is developing a £100 million efficiency programme, VOSA and DSA are transforming their provision of testing by taking it to the customer, and we are working on detailed options for the business model for VCA.

Rotherham Station

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether Rotherham Central railway station will require structural modification to accommodate the tram train announced by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at her Department on 17 May 2012.

Norman Baker: Network Rail is currently designing two short low floor platforms for use by tram train services. It is not planned to reconstruct Rotherham Central which will continue to be served by existing services.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) her Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: Trade union representatives can represent an employee both formally and informally through a range of mediums, to discuss various issues. We do not record this information.

West Coast Main Line

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she is taking to open access to multiple operators on the West Coast Main Line link from Carnforth to London.

Theresa Villiers: Open access or non-franchise passenger train operators (those who operate services purely on a commercial basis, i.e. not under either a franchise or a concession agreement) are a matter for the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). Companies which wish to run such services must apply to the ORR for the necessary track access rights and to Network Rail for train paths in the timetable.
	I understand that Alliance Rail is currently in discussion with the ORR with a view to start operating services from London Euston to Carlisle via Barrow-in-Furness and the Cumbrian coast.

TREASURY

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Chloe Smith: The Department’s total greenhouse gas emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) for the years specified are as follows:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Energy 3,379.16 2,882.16 
			 Travel 78.14 58.83 
			 Total 3,457.30 2,940.98

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Chloe Smith: Since 2010, HM Treasury has achieved significant reductions through a programme of works and several initiatives to help meet its carbon reduction targets:
	Introduction of a Waste Management Strategy, including the recycling of batteries and food waste, removal of junk mail, and introduction of virtual printing to reduce paper wastage;
	Purchase of environmentally friendly products wherever possible, including the disposable containers used in the Department's canteen at 1 Horse Guards road, and aerated water taps to reduce water use;
	Energy saving measures including lights being set to dim to 50% capacity outside of core hours, meeting room sensors set to switch off after 15 (rather than 30) minutes of inactivity and adjusted to lower levels in infrequently accessed areas, the use of low-energy, long-life light bulbs, evening security patrols tasked with checking that lights are switched off, and office cleaning taking place during the day rather than at night;
	Upgrades to the Building Management System (BMS) and controls, with adjusted settings during bank holidays and real time data available on energy usage on HM Treasury’s website; and
	Rationalisation of the Department’s estate and IT equipment to reduce energy use and carbon footprint, with sustainable disposal of obsolete equipment.
	Projects planned for 2012 include low-carbon awareness campaigns in 1 Horse Guards road, promotion of video conferencing rather than travel, and a move to closed loop paper (where paper used on site is recycled and turned back into paper which is delivered back to the Department).
	HM Treasury is currently developing a sustainability plan which will outline its strategy and actions up to 2015 for increasing sustainability and reducing carbon emissions further. The plans will be published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Corporation Tax

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the amount of corporation tax revenue generated in Northern Ireland that is paid by companies with headquarters or registered offices in (a) London, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales.

David Gauke: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was generated for the Exchequer by fuel duty in the last year for which figures are available.

Chloe Smith: The latest outturn figure for fuel duty was £27.3 billion in 2010-11, published in table ‘D.3: Current Receipts: OBR forecast’ of Budget 2012, HC1853.

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to foster a savings culture in the UK.

Mark Hoban: The Government's savings strategy is based on the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility, so that it meets the needs of consumers while remaining effective and affordable. In particular, the Government aim to encourage more lower and middle-income households to start saving and to save more, especially for the long term and retirement.
	The Government have taken steps to support existing savers and encourage new savers, including:
	1. Promoting choice by providing flexibility to consumers in a competitive market. This Government introduced the Junior ISA, removed the effective requirement to annuitise at age 75 and announced at Budget 2012 that the Government will work with industry to improve competitiveness and transparency in the ISA market, including encouraging the industry to make use of the technological advances in how information and funds can be transferred to bring further reductions in the time taken to transfer cash ISA between providers. The Government also welcome and strongly support the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) recommendations to make it easier for personal customers, small businesses and charities to switch their bank account. The Government are clear that the new switching proposals need to be fully implemented by the industry by September 2013 and will monitor progress closely through quarterly interim reports.
	2. Promoting fairness in incentives to save by introducing automatic enrolment of employees into a pension scheme from October 2012, reforming the way pensions tax relief is restricted and indexing ISA contribution limits to inflation.
	3. Promoting personal responsibility within the saving, debt and protection system so individuals are equipped to exercise effective choice and plan for expected and unexpected events. This Government have introduced the Money Advice Service, which among other services provides a free financial ‘healthcheck’; asked an independent Steering Group to devise a suite of simple financial products to help increase the number of new participants in savings and protection insurance markets by providing straightforward, easy to understand products; and worked with industry and consumer groups to establish a ‘default’ open market option, which requires retirees to make an active choice about their provider and the shape of their annuity.

Financial Services: Education

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress the Money Advice Service has made in its review of the provision of financial education in schools; and when he expects the review to be published.

Mark Hoban: The Money Advice Service is undertaking a strategic overview of the educational work of the financial services industry, to inform and improve the provision of financial education for young people in the UK. A two-part research project, which is expected to be completed by June 2012, will inform further work in this area.

International Monetary Fund

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to review the size of the New Arrangements to Borrow and the implementation of the IMF quota change.

Mark Hoban: At the spring meetings in Washington in April 2012, a G20-led deal to increase IMF resources by $430 billion was agreed. The IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and the G20 also reaffirmed the urgency of making the 2010 quota and governance reforms effective by the 2012 Annual Meetings, which this year will be held in Tokyo from 12 to14 October.
	As agreed by the G20 in South Korea in 2010, the New Arrangements to Borrow are currently planned to be rolled back when the IMF quota and governance reforms are ratified by the required majority of member countries. The UK ratified the reforms in Parliament in July 2011.

Revenue and Customs

Mike Freer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs has earned through penalties since 31 January 2012.

David Gauke: The HMRC Financial Accounts, which contain details of penalties accrued during the financial year, are currently in the process of being prepared and audited. They are timetabled to be laid before Parliament on 27 June 2012.
	The accounts will specify the revenue accrued, including penalties, for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012. Revenues are deemed to accrue evenly over the period for which they are due.
	The data will appear in the ‘Statement of Revenue, Other Income and Expenditure’ within the Trust Statement and in the ‘Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure’ in the Resource Accounts (with specific detail in the accompanying note on ‘operating income’).

Revenue and Customs

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many additional tax inspectors have been recruited by HM Revenue and Customs in each month since September 2011;
	(2)  how many tax inspectors were employed by HM Revenue and Customs in each year since 2009.

David Gauke: HMRC was created by the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise in 2005 and “tax inspectors” is no longer a role within the merged organisation.
	However, following the £917 million reinvestment in HMRC at the spending review 2010, the number of staff tackling avoidance and evasion and fraud will increase by around 2,500 full-time equivalent staff by 2014-15.

Revenue and Customs

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will extend the use of 0345 numbers for telephone calls made by the public to HM Revenue and Customs to all calls handled by its contact centre network.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) on 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 301W.

VAT

David Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with independent care providers about their VAT status.

David Gauke: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations, available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

VAT

David Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether arrangements are in place for small businesses to pay VAT on a monthly basis with regular adjustments made for outstanding debt.

David Gauke: The Annual Accounting Scheme allows businesses with an estimated VAT taxable turnover for the coming year of £1.35 million or less to spread their VAT payments equally over nine months, or pay by quarterly instalments towards their annual VAT bill. The instalments are based on the VAT liability from the previous year. If there is a balance or repayment due this will be settled at the end of the financial year.
	The scheme also allows businesses to make additional voluntary payments towards their end of year VAT bills. At the end of the year, these businesses get two months (rather than the standard one month) in which to submit their VAT return and any balancing payment.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Diplomatic Service: Training

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what education and training his Department provides for its staff in women's rights.

Henry Bellingham: The FCO provides job-related training to staff covering international human rights issues, including women's rights. There are opportunities for FCO staff working on conflict issues to participate in cross-Whitehall training on women, peace and security including the HMG Conflict Foundation Course. Women's rights also feature in some of the training and development opportunities organised individually by FCO Posts and Directorates on countries, regions and broader thematic issues.
	In addition, staff in front line roles overseas working for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) as Entry Clearance Officers (ECOs) or Managers (ECMs) are required to complete the ECM/ECO training course, which includes gender sensitivity issues such as on the policy and practice of forced marriage. There is also a forced marriage module in consular assistance training for staff in the UK and overseas.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to a diverse and inclusive work force that represents modern Britain. All staff are expected to complete diversity training which underlines the need to respect difference, including gender, and to create an inclusive working culture in which all are encouraged to develop their full potential.

Iraq

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 23 April 2012, Official Report, columns 752-3W, on the Arab Partnership Fund, what the (a) objectives, (b) outcomes and (c) amounts of funding are of the two projects undertaken under the auspices of the Arab Partnership Fund in Iraq to strengthen a free and balanced media and parliamentary capacity; and whether any follow-up projects are envisaged.

Alistair Burt: For the project to strengthen parliamentary capacity through support to the Finance Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives:
	(a) The objective is to support the Finance Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives in improving its internal organisation, financial oversight, capacity for legislative scrutiny, and develop its relations with the Board of Supreme Audit and other policy committees.
	(b) The outcomes are: the internal restructuring of the committee and new committee strategy, new oversight processes, enhancement of policy understanding including on banking sector reform, improved procedures to undertake questioning of finance ministry officials, improved links with other parliamentary policy committees on financial oversight, and creation of a Scrutiny Unit within parliament.
	(c) The Arab Partnership Participation Fund provided £155,729.03 of funding for this project, which is part of a larger four-year Conflict Prevention Pool funded programme to strengthen the capacity of the Council of Representatives. The programme will continue (funded through the Conflict Prevention Pool) until the next Iraqi parliamentary elections.
	For the project to strengthen a free and balanced media through support to the Iraqi National Public Service Broadcaster:
	(a) The objective is to increase the capacity of Iraq Media Network (IMN) for editorial independence and impartiality in accordance with its public service broadcasting (PSB) mandate.
	(b) The outcomes are: (i) review under way of the structure and internal communications of the IMN against its mandate, (ii) review under way of the curriculum, training facilities and procedures of IMN staff to ensure better understanding of PSB and of Iraqi legal frameworks, (iii) development under way of online staff training modules along the lines of those developed by the BBC Academy, (iv) review under way of the code of conduct and development of training modules, (v) introduction of multi-media platforms and review of the strategic goals of IMN's online forums to produce more dynamic and participatory content.
	(c) The Arab Partnership Participation Fund provided £234,025 for this project, which is part of a wider programme of reforms of the IMN. We will monitor this progress carefully.

Israel

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on a total ban on settlement trade.

Alistair Burt: Our position on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is clear: they are illegal under international law, an obstacle to peace and make a two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, harder to achieve. We constantly urge the Israeli authorities to cease all settlement activity.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and I have regular discussions with our EU counterparts on these issues. The EU Foreign Affairs Council most recently discussed issues relating to the Middle East Peace Process, including settlements, on 14 May. In the meeting's conclusions, the EU and its member states
	“reaffirmed their commitment to fully and effectively implement existing EU legislation and the bilateral arrangements applicable to settlement products. The Council underlines the importance of the work being carried out together with the Commission in this regard.”
	Full text of the conclusions may be found at:
	http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/130195.pdf
	We regularly discuss with EU partners our assessment of Israeli settlement activity. There is currently no specific proposal for a total ban on settlement trade.

Mali

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 543W, on Mali, what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Mali; what information his Department holds on the number of international aid organisations that have withdrawn since the military coup in March 2012; what recent discussions he has had on the restoration of democracy and civilian rule when the agreement to hand power temporarily to President Dioncounda Traore runs out on 21 May 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: Reports suggest that over 300,000 men, women and children have been uprooted by the current crisis in Mali. Ongoing conflict in the country is exacerbating the already worsening food and nutrition crisis that is affecting some 18 million people across the Sahel. The UK is supporting, where local conditions allow, the work of UN and international non-governmental organisations to provide humanitarian assistance for approximately 68,000 individuals. We continue to monitor the situation and are in close contact with agencies working on the ground.
	The deterioration in security conditions in the northern regions of Mali has also limited the delivery of humanitarian assistance. This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are monitoring the issue of humanitarian access closely.
	We cannot say precisely how many aid organisations have left since March 2012 but, at the time of the coup d’état in March, we know that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was one of many organisations that had to close their offices in the north of Mali as a result of insecurity and unrest. The WFP is working on ways to guarantee safe conditions for the return of their staff and the resumption of aid to those affected by conflict in Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao.
	We understand that agreement was reached over the weekend of 19-20 May to extend the mandate of the interim government for a further 12 months. However, the status of this agreement remains unclear following the attack on President Traore on 21 May. The UK continues to monitor the situation in Bamako. We condemn the latest violence and continue to engage actively—including through our recently reopened embassy—with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), regional Governments and our international partners, to support a swift return to democratic, constitutional government.

North Africa and Middle East

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what programmes his Department supports in north Africa and the Middle East on (a) women's social and political participation, (b) women's health and (c) reduction of female genital mutilation.

Alistair Burt: The UK is supporting the empowerment of women in the political, economic and social life of the middle east and north Africa (MENA). As part of the UK's national action plan to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security we have launched a specific action plan for the MENA region.
	(a) The UK is supporting women's political participation in the MENA region. For example, the UK's Arab Partnership is funding an Electoral Reform International Services programme in Egypt to promote the participation of women candidates in Egyptian local council elections. The tri-Departmental Conflict Pool (FCO/Department for International Development/Ministry of Defence) is supporting women's participation in the Libyan political process, co-funding the first ever Women's Convention in Tripoli in November 2011, and programmes to mobilise women to form networks and common platforms to advocate locally and nationally for greater social, economic and political inclusion. The UK's DFID-led bilateral aid programmes in Yemen and Palestine are also working for women's empowerment. For example DFID's support to the Yemeni Social Fund for Development (SFD), is contributing to increasing girls' participation in and access to education, and improving economic opportunities for women through micro finance and labour intensive works projects. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), DFID's state-building programme is boosting citizen's rights by helping the Palestinian Authority to be more accountable and responsive to the public, including improving their services for female victims of violence.
	(b) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not directly support women's health programmes, but the UK's bilateral aid programmes are working to improve women's health in Yemen and Palestine. For example, UK support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides essential services, including female healthcare, to Palestinians living in the OPTS and Palestinian refugees. In 2011, our support to UNRWA helped provide maternal health care to 263,000 women, and our funding to the PA supports over 2,000 women a year to give birth assisted by skilled health personnel. In Yemen, our support will also help deliver access to basic health care for 50,000 girls and women and access to health care for approximately 38,000 women.
	(c) We are clear that the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) needs to end. While we do not have any specific FGM programmes in the MENA region, we are making a contribution to global measures to eliminate FGM through our core support to UN organisations working on this issue—the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) money, (b) training, (c) personnel, (d) security equipment and (e) other support for security assistance his Department has provided to Yemen in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2011; and what such support he plans to provide to Yemen in 2012-13.

Alistair Burt: As part of the British Government's package of measures to support the Government of Yemen, we have agreed a detailed programme to assist them with improvement in aviation security at Sana'a International airport. This programme includes the provision of aviation security equipment and training which the British Government have been rolling out since 2011. We do not comment on the detail of wider security assistance.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the airport scanners promised to Yemen in 2011 were delivered; and when such delivery took place.

Alistair Burt: As part of the British Government's package of measures to support the Government of Yemen, we have agreed a detailed programme to help to improve aviation security at Sana’a International airport. This programme includes the provision of aviation security equipment and training which the British Government have been rolling out since 2011. We do not comment on the detail of wider security assistance.

DEFENCE

Aircraft Carriers

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the operation of two active carriers is budgeted for in his Department's post 2015 Equipment and Support budget.

Peter Luff: holding answer 22 May 2012
	A decision on the status of the second aircraft carrier will be made in the next strategic defence and security review in 2015. An £8 billion headroom has been established in the Equipment and Equipment and Support programme over the next 10 years having balanced the Ministry of Defence budget.

Aircraft Carriers

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Statement of 10 May 2012, Official Report, column 141, on carrier strike capability, 
	(1)  from which year he proposes that the net additional operating cost averaging about £60 million per year will be incurred; and for how many years;
	(2)  from which budget he proposes that the net additional operating cost will be met.

Peter Luff: As stated by the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), in his statement of 10 May 2012, Official Report, columns 141-42, on Carriers, the net additional operating costs estimated to be around £60 million relate to the second aircraft carrier. A decision on the use of the second aircraft carrier will be made in the next Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2015.

Aircraft Carriers

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what items were ordered by his Department relating to the conversion of UK aircraft carriers to take catapult and arrestor gear.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence did not order any equipment as part of the investigations into the conversion of the operational Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier. The investigations focused on the development of a new Carrier Variant-based ship design, a revised build strategy and development of both in-build and refit conversion options. This work was undertaken by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and Naval Design Partnership in the UK, supported by the US Department of Defence.

Aircraft Carriers

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the number of industrial jobs that were reliant on the conversion of the UK's aircraft carriers to take catapult and arrestor gear.

Peter Luff: In the absence of a contractual commitment to conversion, no jobs could be said to be reliant on the work.

Armed Forces: Mental Illness

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to combat stigmatisation of mental illness in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: We take the mental well-being of our people very seriously and have put systems in place for those who need help to obtain it without recourse.
	Service personnel, and their families receive education on the signs and symptoms of mental health difficulties and are signposted to help and support by the chain of command, and the relevant welfare organisations. In addition, through initiatives such as peer-led Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) sessions, individuals are encouraged to speak freely about their experiences following a traumatic incident. This can be followed up with in-theatre medical teams and during decompression in Cyprus.
	I am satisfied that through a wide range of education and material and the proactive campaign to remove the stigma associated with mental health difficulties, any member of the armed forces suffering with this debilitating condition is now more likely to come forward and obtain the help they need.

Armed Forces: Mental Illness

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department are taking to improve the screening, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the issue of mental health very seriously, and we are always looking for ways to improve the already excellent treatment and care that we provide for those who need it. We have a close working relationship with the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King's College, London, which undertakes a range of research aimed at understanding and improving the mental health of the UK armed forces. It currently includes a major study, funded by the US Department of Defence, of a possible mental health screening tool using UK armed forces personnel returning from operations.
	As well as carrying out or commissioning our own research, we closely monitor clinical advances and developments in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions, both in the UK and internationally, in order to ensure that patients receive the most effective and efficient care.
	In accordance with the recommendations of my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison)’s ‘Fighting Fit' Report, published in October 2010, additional resources are also being allocated by MOD and the Department of Health to improve the mental health care provided to both serving and ex-service personnel. Key among these are the commissioning of an extra 30 whole-time equivalent NHS mental health professionals to deliver improved access to NHS mental health services to veterans, and the launch in March last year of a professional 24-hour helpline for current and ex-service personnel and their families. Additionally, we are currently trialling use by the service community of the Big White Wall, an online early intervention service for people in psychological distress. An e-learning package has been launched to help civilian GPs understand the needs of the military, their families and ex-service personnel. We are also introducing mental health assessments into routine service medical examinations and into discharge medicals, which are currently being introduced on a regional basis.

Armed Forces: Officers

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were employed in the Retired Officer Corps on 31 December in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: It was previously the case that some posts in the civil service were designated as requiring specialist knowledge or experience of service in the armed forces. As a result such posts were designated as retired officer posts and only open to former service personnel.
	Although some retired officer posts remain, they have, in the main, been replaced by posts designated as Military Support Function. These no longer limit applications to former service personnel in recognition that civil servants can also acquire the specialist knowledge or experience to compete for these posts.
	The following table lists the number of retired officer posts since 31 December 2003, this being the only period for which this information is available in this format:
	
		
			 As at 31 December Total number of retired officer posts 
			 2003 895 
			 2004 768 
			 2005 650 
			 2006 564 
			 2007 461 
			 2008 360 
			 2009 301 
			 2010 244 
			 2011 197

Armed Forces: Pay

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have been accidentally overpaid in Scotland in each of the last five years; how much was repaid in each year and what the highest amount repaid was.

Andrew Robathan: This information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Schizophrenia

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of levels of schizophrenia in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: The number of armed forces personnel to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia is small. According to data collated by the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA), between 2007 and 2011 (earliest and latest dates for which verified data are available) 108 UK armed forces personnel had an initial assessment of either schizophrenic, schizotypal or delusional disorders at a Ministry of Defence Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) or MOD in-patient care contractor.

Arms Trade

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 1134W, how many of his staff work on export promotion in support of the UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation; and what the budget was for (a) their salaries and (b) other costs in 2011-12.

Gerald Howarth: UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), led by Lord Green, has overall responsibility within Government for trade promotion. However, UKTI DSO works very closely with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) whose contribution can be critical to the success of an industry-led export campaign. A wide variety of support is provided from across the Department. Records on how many staff are engaged in supporting UKTI DSO are not centrally held.
	There is no central budget for export support. The cost of supporting a particular export campaign is funded by the business unit providing the support where there is a defence benefit in doing so, in accordance with HM Treasury rules. Alternatively the costs of support are charged back to UKTI DSO or to industry.
	There is a permanent team of two in the MOD responsible for export support policy and direct engagement with UKTI DSO. There are also two senior civil servant (SCS) posts—at pay band one and two—who are responsible for co-ordinating the Department's export effort. The pay range for each post per annum is:
	SCS pay band 2: Minimum £82,900, Maximum £162,500
	SCS pay band 1: Minimum £58,200, Maximum £117,750
	B2: Minimum £49,860, Maximum £59,535
	C2: Minimum £30,428, Maximum £36,333
	The MOD can charge a Commercial Export Levy to offset costs incurred by the Department in supporting export campaigns.

Army

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  which (a) infantry and (b) armoured units his Department plans to (i) abolish and (ii) merge in the next 12 months; and which such units are based in Wales;
	(2)  what criteria his Department uses when deciding which infantry and armoured units to abolish and merge;
	(3)  when he expects the review of the future structure of the Army to close.

Nick Harvey: The Army is undertaking a study into its future size and structure, the outcome of which we expect to announce once decisions have been made. Until then it is not possible to comment on which specific units may be affected.

Army: Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) recruitment targets and (b) levels of recruitment were for (i) The Royal Scots Borderers, (ii) The Royal Highland Fusiliers, (iii) The Black Watch, (iv) The Highlanders, (v) The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, (vi) 1st Battalion Scots, (vii) The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and (viii) 19th Regiment Royal Artillery in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 14 May 2012
	The following table shows numbers recruited (excluding officers) for each of the named units in recruiting year 2011-12 and the manning shortfalls that existed before and after that period.
	
		
			  Manning shortfall as at January 2011 Manning shortfall as at April 2012 Recruiting target 2011-12 (1) Recruited during 2011-12 
			 Royal Regt of Scotland(2) -402 -354 671 641 
			 1st Battalion Scots Guards -53 -58 198 143 
			 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards -33 -78 43 25 
			 19 Regt RA(3) +72 +48 40 40 
			 (1) Recruiting targets do not equate directly to the number of trained individuals necessary to ensure full manning of units. They are based on a number of criteria which will include the ability to recruit in particular areas, the share of the funded number of trained soldiers allocated to each arm and service and the resources available. The Royal Regt of Scotland would have required around 1,000 new recruits during 2011-12 to return to full manning (taking account of outflow and those recruits who would not complete training), but the target was reduced to one considered more achievable. (2) The Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Scottish Division), consisting of the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS); the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS); the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS); the Highlanders, 4(th) Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS); the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS) has one recruiting target which is not broken down to the Battalions named. Newly trained Scottish Regiment recruits are allocated to the Battalion where the demand is greatest. (3) The manning surpluses against 19 Regt RA are due in large part to preparation for deployment to Afghanistan and the addressing of some structural changes.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a varied programme of work to reduce carbon emissions including boiler optimisation, lighting upgrades, adjusting heating times to reflect building occupancy, minimum/maximum temperature mandates, weekend and holiday shutdowns, IT and electrical equipment reductions and rationalisation, staff engagement and behavioural campaigns.
	In 2010-11 (the last year for which figures are available) the MOD exceeded the 10% carbon emission reduction commitment on the civil office estate, by achieving a 14.7% reduction. In addition the Department also exceeded the Sustainable Operations on the Government estate targets, achieving a 21.4% reduction against the carbon emissions from the office estate target of 12.5% and a 24% reduction against the carbon emissions from vehicles' target of 15%.
	The MOD is now working toward the new Greening Government Commitment of a 25% reduction in emissions from the whole estate and business related transport by 2015.

Chief Scientific Advisers

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons his Department downgraded the post of Chief Scientific Adviser from a 4-star post to a 3-star post.

Peter Luff: holding answer 21 May 2012
	The change to Director General reflects a decision to reduce the post's level of executive responsibility and, in future, to increase its focus on advisory responsibilities.
	The post will remain one of the most influential within the MOD with the post-holder being directly accountable to Ministers and to the Permanent Secretary.

Consultants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on external consultants, including management consultants, in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: In 2010-11 the Ministry of Defence (MOD), including MOD's trading fund agencies, spent £26 million on consultancy contracts (as defined by the Cabinet Office)—about one third of what was spent in 2009-10. This figure includes expenditure on management consultants.
	The final out-turn on 2011-12 external consultancy is not yet available.
	Expenditure on consultancy is now published annually in UK Defence Statistics.

Defence: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department's equipment budget will increase by 1% above inflation in each financial year from 2015 onwards.

Peter Luff: In Planning Round 2012 we assumed that the Department's spending on equipment and equipment support would increase by 1% above inflation in each financial year from 2015.

Devonport Dockyard

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the annual budget of Her Majesty’s Naval Base Devonport has been written off as a (a) loss and (b) theft in the last three years for which figures are available.

Peter Luff: The proportion of the budget of Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport written off as a result of losses and theft combined accounted for less than 1% of the annual budget for financial years 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12.

Disclosure of Information

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his answer of 7 March 2012, Official Report, column 780W, on departmental disclosure of information, if he will publish any interim findings of the inquiry into the unauthorised disclosure of the letter between the former Secretary of State and the Prime Minister which appeared in T he Daily Telegraph on 28 September 2010.

Philip Hammond: The investigation remains open. Active inquiries are not being conducted, but if relevant information comes to light it will be investigated. I regret to say that the person responsible for the leak has not been identified.

Freedom of Information

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times his Department has used a qualified exemption to withhold answers with relation to Freedom of Information requests in each of the last five years; and on what subjects.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) submits statistical information on the use of exemptions to the Ministry of Justice which is published on its website.
	The following figures are taken from the annual exemptions tables (Table 5 2007-09 and Table 10 2010-11). The figures represent the total number of times all of the qualified exemptions have been applied.
	
		
			  Number of qualified exemptions (1) 
			 2011 391 
			 2010 259 
			 2009 199 
			 2008 238 
			 2007 283 
			 (1) More than one exemption may be applied to any one request. 
		
	
	Due to the scope of MOD business, the Department receives requests for information on a wide variety of subjects. It would only be possible to provide the subject of each of the requests to which qualified exemptions have been applied at disproportionate cost.

Harrier Aircraft

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give consideration to reversing the decision to transfer the UK's Harrier warplanes to the US.

Peter Luff: The Harrier was a flexible and capable aircraft which served the nation well. However, owing to the reduction in the size of the Harrier fleet to 32 aircraft in 2009 under the previous Government it was unable to achieve sustained operations in Afghanistan and maintain an adequate contingent capability for the unexpected on its own. Only the Tornado could do this and sustaining fleets of three types of aircraft was unaffordable. We accepted that this decision would create a gap in carrier strike capability until the end of the decade. The sale has been completed and the Government do not intend to reverse the decision to sell the Harrier fleet to the US Government.

Iraq Conflict

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what medical conditions are more prevalent amongst veterans of the second Iraq war; [R]
	(2)  what (a) potential and (b) actual causes of ill-health have been associated with service in Iraq. [R]

Andrew Robathan: While we hold information on medical conditions affecting our service personnel, it is not possible to attribute these to a particular deployment. However, we will shortly be beginning a long term study covering operations in Iraq and Afghanistan which will mirror the ongoing study into the health of veterans of the first Gulf war. As with the ongoing study, the results of this new study will be published regularly.
	This ongoing study published its latest findings on 31 March 2012, and can be found at:
	www.dasa.mod.uk
	This found that there was no statistically significant difference in the total number of deaths between Gulf veterans and service personnel who had not served in the first Gulf war; and the number of disease related deaths was significantly lower among Gulf veterans than among those who had not served in the first Gulf war. Finally, both groups of veterans were at a lower risk of dying than the general UK population.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he consulted his French counterpart prior to cancelling the order for F35 aeroplanes using catapult machinery on future UK aircraft carriers.

Philip Hammond: Discussions on the Carrier project between the UK and France have been held at both ministerial and official level. The decision to procure the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F35 does not affect our continued close co-operation with France. It has been our intention since the Lancaster House treaty to co-ordinate carrier movement with the French Navy to ensure that at least one European carrier group is available to support international operations, and this has not changed.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects sea trials of the F35B aircraft to commence.

Peter Luff: F35B sea trials have already commenced and are well advanced in the United States.
	As stated in the Secretary of State for Defence’s statement to the House on 10 May 2012, Official Report, columns 140-53, we expect flying from the Queen Elizabeth to commence in 2018, but no exact date in that year has been set for when the UK sea trials will commence.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: Information on the number of employees in the Ministry of Defence and its trading funds is compiled on 1 April each year. As at 1 April 2010 there were 85,850 full-time equivalent civilian employees. This has steadily reduced to 70,940 as at 1 April 2012.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years.

Andrew Robathan: The following table provides information on the total number of civil servants joining and leaving the Ministry of Defence, and its trading funds, in the last two financial years:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Inflow 1,940 1,330 
			 Outflow 4,980 11,690

Military Aircraft: Training

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many trainee pilots are being held over and not on flying training in the (a) Navy, (b) RAF and (c) Army; when he expects all such recruits will complete or resume their training; and if he will estimate the total cost to the taxpayer of holding over such recruits in each of the next three years.

Andrew Robathan: A trainee pilot is considered on hold when they are between flying training courses. As of 18 April 2012 the number of trainee pilots on hold in the flying training pipeline was as follows:
	Royal Navy: 80
	Army: 41
	Royal Air Force: 214
	Trainee pilots are expected to recommence training between June 2012 and August 2014. Depending on individual stages in the training pipeline, we expect these trainees to start emerging combat ready between 2014 and 2018.
	There is no extra cost of holding trainees in the pipeline, as they are part of the funded strength of their service and are redeployed to other duties.

Military Decorations

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy to award the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal 2011 to all members of HM Armed Forces who served for two years in combat operations, regardless of when they left HM Armed Forces;
	(2)  whether he plans to extend the award criteria for the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal 2011 to military personnel who have left HM Armed Forces before 1 January 2008; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  for what reasons the award criteria for the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal 2011 have been restricted to only those members of HM Armed Forces who served on or after before 1 January 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The qualifying period for the new Accumulated Campaign Service Medal 2011 was set at 720 days instead of the 1,080 days required for the original Accumulated Campaign Service Medal. This was because, despite an increase in operational commitments and tempo in recent years, harmony guidelines meant that it was taking longer for individuals to earn this recognition for repeat tours of duty.
	The need for change was underlined by the end of residential tours in Northern Ireland when Operation Banner ended in July 2007. Lengthy operational tours there had contributed significantly to the 1,080 days required to earn the original Accumulated Campaign Service Medal. The date of 1 January 2008 was chosen as the start date for the new medal following the final awards of the General Service Medal 1962 with clasp (Northern Ireland) in 2007.
	I recognise that whenever a change to medal qualifying requirements is made there will be some who will not benefit from the change. I am satisfied that the arrangements now adopted represent the right approach to the changing demands on our servicemen and women over time.

Military Police

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Ministry of Defence police officers are employed (a) at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Devonport and (b) within Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence keeps security at all sites under constant review to ensure that civil policing resources are used in an effective and proportional manner. The number of Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) officers deployed at Devonport, and within the Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency, are commensurate with the current tasking levels.
	I am withholding the number of officers deployed at and around HMNB Devonport, as the disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces. It would also be likely to prejudice law enforcement at those locations.

Military Police

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the potential for Ministry of Defence Police Officers to take a greater role in delivering security at Ministry of Defence sites in Plymouth.

Andrew Robathan: I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement I made on 27 March 2012, Official Report columns 116-19WS. We will be taking a flexible approach to the implementation of the changes to our future civil policing requirement including those in the Devonport area. This will ensure that the best possible use will be made of MOD police at those defence sites where there is a clear requirement for constabulary powers as part of the overall protective security arrangements.
	Safeguarding Defence sites, people and assets remain of paramount importance to the MOD and we would never contemplate changes that would place these in jeopardy.

Military Police

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has assessed the potential effects of reducing the number of Defence Community Police Officers on the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Andrew Robathan: I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 27 March 2012, Official Report, columns 116-19WS, in which I explained that the future requirement for Defence Community Police Officers has been carefully reviewed against other competing priorities. Community support activity on a number of Defence families' estates is already successfully provided by local police forces, and we have concluded, subject to consultation with the Defence Police Federation, that we should adopt this model more widely, allowing the withdrawal of most MOD Police Defence Community Police Officers in Great Britain. We do not believe this change would affect the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Nimrod Aircraft

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has assessed any implications arising from the Haddon-Cave report on the loss of the Nimrod Xv230 for the safety management of Royal Navy (a) Vanguard class and (b) other submarines.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has encouraged all those involved in the submarine programme to consider the implications of Haddon-Cave's findings and recommendations for their own safety management arrangements. In common with Defence as a whole, the submarine programme is adopting a more rigorous approach to the recognition of safety duty holders. In another significant development, there has been an improvement in MOD regulation of safety through the creation of the Defence Safety and Environment Authority, within which the Defence Maritime Regulator and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator have specific remits for the submarine programme. This is consistent with the creation of the Military Aviation Authority as directly recommended by Haddon-Cave.

Queen’s Dragoon Guards

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.

Nick Harvey: The Army is undertaking a study into its future size and structure, the outcome of which we expect to announce when decisions have been taken. Until then it is not possible to comment on which specific units may be affected.

Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's employees have been made redundant in the last two years.

Andrew Robathan: In respect of Ministry of Defence (MOD) civil servants, paid release is used as part of normal work force management. Voluntary terms are offered in order to reduce surplus staffing levels and, ultimately, as a means of avoiding or minimising compulsory redundancies. The numbers of MOD civil servants leaving over the last two years reflect the MOD's need to reduce civilian headcount in response to the strategic defence and security review and other work to balance the Defence budget. The following table shows the total numbers of paid releases (both voluntary release and redundancy) over the last two financial years within the Ministry of Defence and its trading funds.
	
		
			  Number 
			 FY 2010-11 520 
			 FY 2011-12 6,870

Veterans: Prisoners

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on the rehabilitation of ex-servicemen in prison.

Andrew Robathan: Ministry of Defence officials work closely with officials in the Ministry of Justice with regards to the issue of ex-service personnel in the criminal justice system.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, to the hon. Member for Cardiff West, Official Report, column 1407W, on Atos, when each contract between his Department and Atos was most recently renewed or extended.

Chris Grayling: Regarding the five DWP contracts with Atos, the dates for the most recent contract renewals or extensions are as follows;
	
		
			 Policy area Most recent contract re-let or extension 
			 Medical Services This contract was most recently extended in November 2010 
			 Tell Us Once—Tell Us Once Release A This contract was most recently extended in August 2011 
			 enGage (Government Gateway) This contract was most recently extended in March 2011 
			 Occupational Health This contract has not been renewed or extended since its original award 
			 Community Action Programme This contract was most recently extended in January 2012

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Chris Grayling: The key measures DWP introduced to reduce carbon emissions in 2010, 2011 and 2012 are as follows:
	2010
	Installed a large Combined Heat and Power unit in DWP's largest building
	New staff awareness campaign on energy and travel reduction (ongoing)
	Continued installation of 'spend-to-save' investment measures across estate
	Relocated large data centre to new low-carbon facility
	Installed improved and additional video conferencing facilities
	Implemented lower-carbon fleet
	2011
	Replaced printers, scanners and copiers with fewer multi-function devices
	Launched estate rationalisation programme (ongoing)
	Lifted server/comms room minimum cooling temperatures
	Revised policy on office heating and cooling times and temperatures
	Challenged and removed excess office equipment (fridges, fans etc.)
	Expanded installation of Automatic Meter Readers to improve monitoring, using data to challenge excess consumption and address adverse trends
	Consolidated IT servers
	Increased number of local energy champions (now 800 across estate)
	2012 to date
	Embedded sustainability within DWP policy and project development
	Reviewed estate plant end-of-life replacement programmes re energy opportunities
	Revised methodology for investment in new low-carbon technologies
	Launched improved energy database to improve reporting and transparency
	Reviewed opportunities to reduce standby timings on printers
	DWP Executive Team signed up to a number of sustainability pledges
	Further details of the Department's vision and proposals on carbon reduction are outlined in its Carbon Management Plan, available on the Department's website. A refreshed Plan will be published later this year.

Child Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, column 1411W, on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, what the substance was of each change to the contract between Tata Consulting Services and the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission since 2009.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Noel Shanahan
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, column 1411W, on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, what the substance was of each change to the contract between Tata Consulting Services and the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission since 2009.(108283]
	The five key contract changes made to the contract between Tata Consulting Services (TCS) and the Commission since 2009 are:
	CCN001—The introduction of contractual clauses relating to fraud management with no impact to contract value.
	CCN002—Amendments to the procedure for managing contract changes, an agreement to a number of change requests and a revised implementation plan.
	CCN003—Amendment to reflect transition from time and materials terms to a fixed price term to complete supplier testing and consequential changes to the services to be provided. New governance and change management arrangements were created.
	CCN004—An amendment to reflect changes to the duration of the maintenance agreement for the TCS banking software package with no impact to contract value.
	CCN005—Amendments to the criteria used by the Commission for accepting the conclusion of certain phases of testing and an agreement that TCS will support three months of testing at no additional cost.

Employment Schemes

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employers have (a) applied for and (b) secured funding from his Department to recruit people who have been unemployed for six months or more in (i) Birmingham and (ii) England in the last 12 months.

Chris Grayling: No payments have been secured by employers as part of DWP-funded employment schemes in the last 12 months to recruit people, including wage incentives for which the earliest eligibility would be eight weeks after the launch of the Youth Contract on 2 April.

Incapacity Benefit

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's risk register for the decision to rollout nationwide the incapacity benefits migration programme.

Chris Grayling: The Department has no plans to publish any risk registers regarding its operations. The phased approach to incapacity benefit migration was itself a risk mitigation prior to implementing the change nationally. There is no specific risk register now that migration is part of day to day operations.

Jobseeker's Allowance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the median length of waiting time was for callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: It is not possible to obtain the median figure as requested, as this would require a full list of every individual instance rather than the aggregated figures our Management Information system presents. All figures routinely reported within the DWP represent mean, rather than median, averages.
	The relevant mean figures are as follows:
	First contact (jobseekers allowance new claims—April 2012—operational month (7 April to 4 May 05)
	Average wait time to answer: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
	Please note, these figures will also include calls relating to IS new claims.
	JSA inquiries (jobseekers allowance existing claims)—April 2012—operational month  ( 7 April to 4 May)
	Average wait time to answer: 3 minutes, 59 seconds
	Please note that figures for April will have been significantly impacted by both increased seasonal demand at the start of the new business year and condensed demand following bank holidays and so do not necessarily provide representative figures of call centre staff performance under the conditions encountered during the majority of the operational year.
	All figures represent wait time from customer entry into the relevant queue excluding any time spent progressing through any messaging presented prior to the queue being reached. Figures for both service lines will include all calls received including inappropriate/misdirected contact.

Jobseeker's Allowance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the length of time waited by the top 85 percentile of callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: I can advise that the top 85 percentile is not available. The telephony platform would not capture wait times by individual in order for us to calculate the wait time for that or indeed any proportion of the total.

Pension Funds: Overseas Investment

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what pension fund overseas investment was as (a) equities and (b) debt instruments in each of the last 30 years; how much investment there was in each year; and what proportion it was of total UK investment in each year.

Steve Webb: Information for the period requested is not available. Information from 2006 onwards is published by the Office for National Statistics, and is set out in the table.
	
		
			 Pension fund investment—assets acquired 
			 £ million 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Overseas equities 128,744 199,280 141,499 136,756 153,912 155,194 
			 Overseas debt instruments 60,734 112,600 122,138 104,749 86,843 95,009 
			 Total investment by pension funds 499,430 643,982 556,282 555,428 501,298 528,534 
		
	
	
		
			 Overseas as a proportion of total (%) 37.9 48.4 47.4 43.5 48.0 47.3 
			 Notes: 1. The table shows the cash value of assets acquired by self-administered pension funds in each year. A self-administered pension scheme is defined as an occupational pension scheme with units invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts. The data relate to the self-administered pension and superannuation funds of the private sector and to the funded, self-administered schemes of local authorities and employees previously employed in the nationalised industries. Insurer-provided pensions are excluded from the figures. 2. Overseas equities consist of overseas ordinary and preference shares and overseas mutual fund holdings—although note that mutual fund holdings could also consist of bond holdings. Overseas debt instruments consist of overseas corporate and Government bonds and holdings of overseas loans and mortgages. 3. Total investment figure is for long-term investment by self-administered pension funds only and excludes cash and other short-term holdings such as money market funds, which amount to roughly around £40 to £45 billion a year. Source: Office for National Statistics, Investment by Insurance Companies, Pension Funds and Trusts: 4th Quarter 2011, available to download at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Pension+funding

Pension Funds: Overseas Investment

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the overseas earnings were of pension funds (a) in dividends, (b) in interest, (c) in total and (d) as a proportion of total UK earnings in each of the last 30 years.

Steve Webb: The data required to answer this question are not available. Information about total investment income received by self-administered pension funds from 2006 onwards is published by the Office for National Statistics, and is set out in the table:
	
		
			 Pension fund investment income 
			 £ million 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Rents, receivable from properties 1,913 1,892 1,874 1,764 1,760 1,837 
			 Dividends received from investment 12,474 11,374 10,810 8,633 7,876 8,727 
			 Interest earned on investments 6,553 7,513 9,697 8,784 9,686 10,614 
			 Total investment income 20,940 20,779 22,381 19,181 19,322 21,178 
			 Note: The table shows the cash value of investment income earned by self-administered pension funds in each year. A self-administered pension scheme is defined as an occupational pension scheme with units invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts. Source: Office for National Statistics, Investment by Insurance Companies, Pension Funds and Trusts: 4th Quarter 2011, available to download at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Pension+funding

Pensioners: Income

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average single pensioner weekly incomes were of (a) male and (b) female pensioners in today's prices in each of the last 30 years.

Steve Webb: The following table provides the median single pensioner net weekly equivalised incomes, Before and After Housing Costs, by gender in 2009-10 prices for all available years.
	
		
			 Net median weekly income by gender 
			 (£ per week, 2009-10 prices) 
			   Before Housing Costs After Housing Costs 
			 Source Year Male Female Male Female 
			 FES 1979 108 99 83 74 
			  1981 115 106 87 78 
			  .1987 129 118 94 85 
			  1988 126 118 90 83 
			  1989 124 117 93 82 
			  1990-91 134 122 107 88 
			  1992 141 129 106 91 
			  1993 150 138 110 94 
			  1994-95 152 140 113 95 
			  1995-96 153 145 112 97 
			  1996-97 161 148 122 101 
			  1997-98 161 150 119 105 
			  1998-99 164 152 124 111 
			  1999-2000 171 161 135 121 
			  2000-01 176 166 137 129 
			       
			 FRS 2001-02 191 175 159 135 
			  2002-03 192 181 156 141 
			  2003-04 203 183 168 142 
			  2004-05 203 192 170 158 
			  2005-06 205 197 176 164 
			  2006-07 209 193 173 162 
			  2007-08 213 194 184 163 
			  2008-09 220 204 191 172 
		
	
	
		
			  2009-10 232 212 197 176 
			 Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Pensioners' Income Series (PI) data sourced from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) and the Family Resources Survey (FRS). 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost and an After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Costs they are. 3. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 4. The reference period for FRS-based PI figures is the financial year. FRS-based estimates are not available before 1994-95. FES-based PI data are based on calendar years. Data are presented for available years. The years presented correspond to publications that have correct data and where we have spent the time in ensuring income definitions, etc. are consistent. 5. Weekly incomes have been rounded to the nearest pound. 6. Older data is sourced from the FES. The two surveys have different response rates and response profiles, and there are some definitional differences in the data that are collected. Because of these differences, direct comparisons between results from the FES and FRS should not normally be made. 7. FES-sourced figures are for the United Kingdom and FRS-sourced figures are for Great Britain up to 2001-02 and for the United Kingdom from 2002-03. 8. It was announced in May that the 2009-10 results will be revised when the 2010-11 results come out. See the DWP PI website for further information. Source: Pensioners' Incomes Series 2009-10

Personal Independence Payment

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether an assessment by the social services department of a local authority that a person with a disability requires care and support will be sufficient evidence of eligibility for the personal independence payment.

Maria Miller: Within the personal independence payment we intend to move away from the blanket exemptions and automatic entitlement provisions that exist within disability living allowance and treat every claimant as an individual. As such, entitlement to the personal independence payment will not be based upon individuals' specific health conditions or impairments nor on what existing entitlement to other benefits or support they may have, including social care support. The assessment for the new benefit will instead focus on the extent to which claimants' health condition or impairment affect their day to day lives, by assessing ability to carry out key everyday activities. This will ensure that priority in the benefit goes to those people who face the greatest barriers to living independent lives.
	While the fact that claimants have entitlement to social care or other support will not be a factor in whether they are entitled to the personal independence payment, we do want to ensure that our assessments are based on the best and most appropriate evidence. Evidence is likely to come from a range of sources and individuals will be able to provide us with the evidence they consider relevant and to tell us which other professionals may be able to advise us on their circumstances, for example, GP, nurse, hospital consultant or social worker. Reports produced as part of assessments for other support may form a useful part of this evidence mix.
	This suite of information and evidence will allow for a far more personalised approach to be undertaken both on overall entitlement to the benefit and on whether a face-to-face consultation is needed with the individual as part of the assessment. Such an approach will allow for more informed decisions to be made, taking full account of how the health condition or impairment impacts upon the individual.

Social Security Benefits: Data Protection

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private businesses and public bodies have access to information held by his Department relating to individuals' employment history and working age benefit claims; and for what reasons each body has access in each case.

Chris Grayling: The Department lawfully allows specific organisations to access personal data for a wide range of statutory purposes. This access may be required, for example, by the Department's data processors, organisations working with individuals to assist them into employment, or other data controllers, such as local authorities to assist with the assessment of housing benefit.
	A wide range of private and public organisations is provided with information for such purposes and compiling a single list of the uses made by each of them could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department has provided further detail of the ways in which personal information is used, in an explanatory leaflet ‘DWP and your personal information’ in its published Privacy Policy which is available on the Department’s internet pages at the following address:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/#DPA

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's risk register on the introduction of universal credit.

Chris Grayling: There are no plans to publish the Department's risk register on the introduction of universal credit.

Working Hours

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average number of hours was worked per week by people employed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) each Scottish constituency in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average number of hours worked per week was of people employed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) each Scottish constituency in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012. (109202)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics on Average Hours Worked, for regions and constituencies from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Estimates for the UK have also been provided from this source for consistency. However, these UK estimates will therefore differ from those in the National Labour Market Statistics Bulletin which are produced from the Labour Force Survey.
	Table 1 shows the mean actual number of hours worked per worker per week for the geographies requested for the 12 month APS periods ending September 2010 and September 2011, the latest period for which figures are available. Data for 2012 are currently not available.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			 Mean hours worked per worker per week (1)  by UK, Scotland and Westminster parliamentary constituencies in Scotland 
			  12 months ending: 
			  September 2010 September 2011 
			 United Kingdom 31.8 31.7 
			 Scotland 31.4 31.3 
			 Aberdeen North 31.8 30.7 
			 Aberdeen South 31.2 31.7 
			 Airdrie and Shotts 33.0 31.7 
			 Angus 31.7 31.8 
			 Argyll and Bute 31.7 32.0 
			 Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock 30.9 31.5 
			 Banff and Buchan 31.7 32.7 
			 Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk 31.2 31.2 
			 Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 31.6 29.0 
			 Central Ayrshire 31.2 31.2 
			 Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill 30.0 31.7 
			 Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch 33.8 32.8 
			 Dumfries and Galloway 30.8 33.0 
			 Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale 30.8 32.1 
			 Dundee East 30.5 29.7 
			 Dundee West 30.3 28.8 
			 Dunfermline and West Fife 31.7 31.1 
			 East Dunbartonshire 30.6 31.1 
			 East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow 31.2 32.0 
			 East Lothian 31.6 31.0 
			 East Renfrewshire 31.7 32.8 
			 Edinburgh East 29.8 32.1 
			 Edinburgh North and Leith 31.1 32.6 
			 Edinburgh South 35.6 31.7 
			 Edinburgh South West 29.6 33.6 
			 Edinburgh West 32.5 31.5 
			 Falkirk 32.2 30.0 
			 Glasgow Central 28.5 34.0 
			 Glasgow East 30.4 27.6 
			 Glasgow North 34.8 30.0 
			 Glasgow North East 30.3 28.5 
			 Glasgow North West 29.9 31.2 
		
	
	
		
			 Glasgow South 33.2 30.8 
			 Glasgow South West 28.4 30.8 
			 Glenrothes 31.3 29.9 
			 Gordon 32.2 31.5 
			 Inverclyde 31.1 31.8 
			 Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 31.5 31.6 
			 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 31.1 31.5 
			 Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. 29.6 30.3 
			 Lanark and Hamilton East 32.6 29.2 
			 Linlithgow and East Falkirk 31.5 30.8 
			 Livingston 32.9 31.6 
			 Midlothian 30.3 29.7 
			 Moray 32.9 31.9 
			 Motherwell and Wishaw 31.1 32.9 
			 Na h-Eileanan an Iar 29.1 35.0 
			 North Ayrshire and Arran 30.7 31.4 
			 North East Fife 34.5 32.7 
			 Ochil and South Perthshire 33.0 31.8 
			 Orkney and Shetland 31.3 30.1 
			 Paisley and Renfrewshire North 30.8 32.4 
			 Paisley and Renfrewshire South 29 2 30.9 
			 Perth and North Perthshire 32 5 31.5 
			 Ross, Skye and Lochaber 30.4 30.0 
			 Rutherglen and Hamilton West 29.7 31.6 
			 Stirling 30.9 31.0 
			 West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine 32.6 30.6 
			 West Dunbartonshire 30.1 29.1 
			 (1) Average actual hours worked per week in main and second job including paid and unpaid overtime. Source: Annual Population Survey

EDUCATION

Academies

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools he expects to convert to academy status in 2012.

Nick Gibb: 2,160 applications to convert to academies had been received up until 1 May 2012. 1,450 of these schools have already converted to academy status. The academy conversion programme is a demand-led programme with conversion numbers dependent on schools submitting applications. I cannot therefore advise how many schools will convert to academies in 2012.

Academies: Primary Education

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance is given to officials in his Department on the information to be provided in writing when they are advising primary schools on possible conversion to academy status.

Nick Gibb: No guidance is given to departmental officials about what information should be provided in writing to schools that are considering conversion to academy status. Officials communicate with these schools in person, on the phone, and in writing. In addition, primary schools can access written information available on the Department's website including details about academy status and the process for becoming an academy, a description of the role of a sponsor and case studies of open academies. The website is available here
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/primary

Adoption: Reading (Berkshire)

Alok Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were in foster care awaiting adoption in Reading West constituency in each of the last three years.

Tim Loughton: The information requested for Reading borough council can be found in the tables. Information at constituency level is not available.
	The decision that a looked after child should be placed for adoption is made by their local authority but the local authority cannot actually place the child with prospective adopters without either a placement order or parental consent (depending on the individual circumstances of the case).
	Information about the decision that a child should be placed for adoption has only been collected for all looked after children, for whom a decision was made, since 2009. Previously, this information was collected only for children who had been adopted. Consequently, the number of children waiting for adoption can only be provided for the last three years.
	
		
			 Looked after children for whom the decision was made that they shou ld be placed for adoption while  placed In foster care, who were adopted, had the decision that they should be placed for adoption reversed or who were still waiting to be adopted at 31 March (1, 2, 3, 4) . Years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011. Coverage: Reading 
			 Number 
			   Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption 
			   2009 
			 Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6) 
			 2009 15 0 0 15 0 
			 2010 10 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 2011 15 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 Number 
			   Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption 
			   20 10 
			 Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6) 
			 2009 15 x 0 10 x 
			 2010 10 0 0 10 x 
			 2011 15 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 Number 
			   Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption 
			   20 11 
			 Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6) 
			 2009 15 x 0 x x 
			 2010 10 x 0 5 x 
			 2011 15 x 0 15 5 
		
	
	
		
			 n/a = Not applicable x = Figures not shown in order to protect confidentiality (1) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. Consequently, the figures may not add up. For confidentiality purposes, numbers from one to five inclusive have been replaced by a cross (x). Where any number is shown as zero (0), the original figure submitted was zero (0). (2) Only children looked after in a foster care placement when the decision was made that they should be placed tor adoption have been counted. (3 )For children living with the family intending to adopt them (ie placed for adoption), it is tor the prospective adopters to apply to court for an adoption order. (4 )Children waiting to be placed for adoption may either bewailing for a placement order to be made by the court or be in (he process of being matched with prospective adopters. (5) The number of children at 31 March awaiting adoption is calculated as the total number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption, minus the total number of children who were adopted or for whom the decision was reversed. The number includes children who have been placed for adoption, but for whom an adaption order has not yet been made, as well as children who have not yet been placed. (6) The number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March is a subset of all children who were awaiting adoption at 31 March, and indicates that the child is living with his/her prospective adopters but an adoption order is not yet in place. Source: SSDA 903 
		
	
	Information on adopted children can be found in the Statistical First Release “Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (including adoption and care leavers)—year ending 31 March 2011”, which is available on the Department's website via the following link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001026/index.shtml

Apprentices: West Midlands

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many apprentice starts there were for 16 to 18 year- olds in (a) Redditch constituency and (b) the West Midlands in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

John Hayes: Table 1 shows the number of apprenticeship programme starts aged under 19 in Redditch parliamentary constituency, the West Midlands region and England for academic years 2009/10 to 2010/11, the latest full year for which final data are available.
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship programme starts by learners aged under 19 by geography, 2009/10 to 2010/11 
			  2009/10 full year 2010/11 full year 
			 Redditch constituency 150 200 
			 West Midlands region 13,590 15,690 
			 England total 116,800 131,700 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred except for England total which are rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Age is based on age at the start of the programme. These figure includes a small number of under 16-year-olds. 3. Geography is based upon the home postcode of the learner. The England total includes some postcodes which are not known. Geographic information is based on boundaries of regions as of May 2010. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by age is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 29 March 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if the Government will consider reviewing Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and its use for tackling and preventing child neglect.

Tim Loughton: The earlier that help is given to vulnerable children and families, the more chance there is of turning lives around and protecting children from harm. The Government's vision is for a child centred system which includes providing effective help when a problem arises at any stage in a child's life.
	Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 makes it an offence to assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon or expose a child in a manner that is likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the child or injury to his health. Section 1 specifies that this includes any mental derangement. It does not therefore focus solely on a child's physical needs.
	Concerns about a child's welfare may arise in many different contexts and the nature of these concerns will vary greatly from case to case. What is important is that action is taken quickly so that a problem does not escalate.
	Understanding families and the experiences of children within them can be complex and signs of low level abuse and neglect may be misleading. Professionals working in universal services—health, education, police and early years—have a responsibility to identify the early signs of abuse and neglect, to share that information and work together to provide children with the help they need.
	Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are being neglected. Under section 47 local authorities have a duty to make inquiries when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.
	Revisions we are proposing to make to the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2010) will continue to set out the processes to be followed when there are concerns about a child's safety and welfare. These concerns may be serious enough to justify initiating action in the family court. The threshold criteria set out in section 31 of the Children Act 1989 are used by judges when deciding whether a child has suffered significant harm and should be the subject of a statutory care or supervision order.
	However, statutory guidance itself is not sufficient to effect the change needed. We are helping children's services, police and the NHS to work together and focus on early identification before problems escalate. We are also working with Ofsted to make sure their inspections look at whether children are getting the help they need. We are undertaking a number of reforms to strengthen social work practice. This includes improving the social work degree and developing further the skills of existing social workers in critical areas such as child protection. We have advertised for and intend to appoint a Chief Social Worker, who will work with the new College of Social Work and the newly designated Principal Child and Family Social Workers in local authorities to drive improvement and raise standards. The Department has also commissioned Action for Children and the University of Stirling to produce training materials to help equip the work force to respond effectively to children who are likely to be, or have been, neglected. These materials will be published soon.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the number of children who went missing from care in the last year for which figures are available.

Tim Loughton: The information requested is contained in the following table.
	The Department collects information from local authorities on looked after children who are missing for more than 24 hours from their agreed placement and whose whereabouts are either known or unknown to social services.
	For completeness, the table also contains information on the total number of children looked after at any time during the year ending 31 March 2011.
	
		
			 Looked after children who went missing from their agreed placement during the year ending 31 March 2011 (1,2) . Coverage: England 
			  Number 
			 Total number of children looked after at any time during the year 90,920 
			 Children looked after who went missing during the year(3,4,5) 930 
			 (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements. (3) Figures include looked after children who were missing from care for a period of more than 24 hours. (4) Children who went missing more than once during the year have been counted once. (5) Figures include children who are absent from their agreed placement including those cases where (a) the young person is in a refuge for children at risk, or (b) the whereabouts of the young person is known to social services (not in refuge), or (c) the whereabouts of the young person is unknown. Source: SSDA903

Children: Poverty

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of children were living in poverty in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne North constituency, (b) the north east and (c) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Maria Miller: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	Estimates of the number and proportion of children living in poverty are published in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. HBAI uses household income adjusted (or 'equivalised') for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living.
	The sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates at local authority level. However, figures at a regional level for England and the north east are available. Three survey years have been combined because single year estimates are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.
	Statistics covering 2007/08 to 2009/10 are the most recent available.
	The following table shows the proportion and number of children living in relative poverty before housing costs (BHC) for 2007/08 to 2009/10 in England and the north east.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number and proportion of children living in relative poverty (BHC) in England and the north east, 2007/08 to 2009/10 
			 Region Number (million) Proportion (%) 
			 England 2.3 21 
			 North East 0.1 26 
			 Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) available at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai_arc This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 3. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost rather than an after housing cost basis. For before housing costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are. 4. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 5. The reference period for these HBAI figures is the financial year. 6. Numbers of households with children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children. 7. Proportions of households with children have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 8. This measure is defined as: - Relative poverty: households with children with equivalised incomes below 60% of contemporary median household income before housing costs (BHC). 9. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets four income-based UK-wide targets to be met by 2020. The targets are based on the proportion of children living in households with relative low income, combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. Source: Households Below Average Income 1994/95 to 2009/10, DWP

Departmental Staff: Political Affiliation

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what (a) grants and (b) contracts his Department has awarded to companies or organisations run by individuals who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative party and (ii) Liberal Democrat party since May 2010; what the (A) value and (B) nature was of these contracts; and whether they were publicly advertised.

Tim Loughton: We hold details of organisations that receive a grant from or were awarded a contract by the Department, but we do not hold any further detail about individuals within those organisations to know whether they were employed by or held an elected position of the Conservative party or the Liberal Democrat party. To provide this information would incur disproportionate costs to this Department.
	With regard to grants, within the Department we have a stated aim, endorsed by our former permanent secretary, of competing all grants that the Department gives. Depending on the subject matter of each grant, we advertise on Contracts Finder
	http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk
	relevant trade websites or publications or on the Funding Central website
	http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/Default.aspx
	With regard to contracts, it is the Department's policy to advertise all suitable contracts in either Contracts Finder (link as above), the Official Journal of the European Union
	http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do
	or other publications relevant to the subject matter of the contract.
	A suitable contract is one with a value over £20,000 and where the goods or services are not available via an existing framework agreement. Contracts with a value below £20,000 and which are not available from a framework agreement are competitively tendered by selecting suitable organisations to bid based on objective criteria.

E-mail

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received from the Information Commissioner's Office on the use of private e-mails and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Tim Loughton: In December 2011 the Department received a report from the Information Commissioner on the findings of its good practice visit in October 2011, which included consideration of the use of personal e-mail and the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Information Commissioner published those findings on 15 December 2011.
	The Information Commissioner and his staff regularly make representations to departmental officials in the course of relevant Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act casework.

Free School Meals: Durham

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in North West Durham constituency are registered for free school meals.

Nick Gibb: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is shown in the tables.
	Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals as at January 2011 is published in the Statistical First Release 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011' available at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml
	
		
			 Maintained nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools, and pupil referral units (1, 2, 3, 4) , number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6, 7) , January 2011, England 
			  Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools (1, 2) State-funded secondary schools (1, 3) 
			  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals 
			 England 3,873,175 743,255 19.2 2,837,825 450,275 15.9 
			 Durham 35,813 7,945 22.2 26,381 4,999 18.9 
			 North West Durham constituency 6,273 1,223 19.5 3,802 664 17.5 
		
	
	
		
			  Special schools (4) Pupil referral units 
			  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals 
			 England 79,030 28,830 36.5 13,725 4,745 34.6 
			 Durham 1,068 564 52.8 79 38 48.1 
			 North West Durham constituency 52 20 38.5 (8)— (8)— (8)— 
		
	
	
		
			  Total (7) 
			  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals 
			 England 6,803,755 1,227,110 18.0 
			 Durham 63,341 13,546 21.4 
			 North West Durham constituency 10,127 1,907 18.8 
		
	
	
		
			 (1 )Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes primary academies. (3 )Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies. (4 )Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (5 )Includes pupils who are sole or dual main registrations, includes boarders. In Pupil Referral Units includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. (6 )Pupils who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between 5 and 15. (7 )Includes maintained nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools, and Pupil Referral Units. Excludes pupils in alternative provision as full and part-time status is not collected. (8 )Not applicable. No schools of this type. Note: National totals have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: School Census

Home Education

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent to which local authorities are fulfilling their duty to identify home-schooled children who are not receiving a suitable education.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not recently undertaken an assessment of how local authorities are fulfilling their statutory duty to identify those children of compulsory school age who are not receiving a suitable education at home. However, the Department plans to review its statutory guidance on children missing education for local authorities later in the autumn.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: There are no recorded losses from the Department for items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed at the latest period for which figures are available.

Tim Loughton: The Department employed 2,622 or 2,504.1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees on the 31 May 2010. A more detailed breakdown covering how the Department and its arms length bodies have changed since March 2010 is as follows.
	
		
			  March 2010 March 2012 April 2012 
			  Headcount FTE Headcount FTE Headcount FTE 
			 Total group 9,710 9,258 7,860 7,385 7,542 7,073 
			 DFE Total 7,435 7,062 6,244 5,828 5,943 5,535 
			 DFE plus Executive Agencies 2,691 2,571 2,789 2,673 4,024 3,868 
			 DFE Core 2,691 2,571 2,699 2,585 2,818 2,699 
			 Executive Agencies 0 0 90 88 1,206 1,169 
			 NDPBs 4,744 4,492 3,455 3,155 1,919 1,667 
			 Non-Ministerial Departments 2,275 2,196 1,616 1,557 1,599 1,538

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years.

Tim Loughton: 111 people joined and 750 left the Department between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2012.

Primary Education: Birmingham

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many vacant primary school places there were in (a) Birmingham, Ladywood constituency and (b) Birmingham city council area in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Nick Gibb: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of unfilled places in maintained primary schools (except special schools) via an annual survey. The following table shows the number of unfilled places in maintained primary schools and academies in Birmingham between 2007 and 2011, which are the most recent data available. The number of unfilled places are reported at local authority level and not broken down by constituency.
	
		
			 Unfilled places in maintained primary schools in Birmingham (including academies) 
			  Total 
			 2007(1) 8,649 
			 2008(1) 8,730 
			 2009(1) 8,414 
			 2010(2) 7,875 
			 2011(2) 7,635 
			 (1) Number of places relate to the position as at January (2) Number of places relate to the position as at May Source: Surplus Places Survey and School Capacity Collection

Schools: Admissions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  on how many occasions a direction to admit was sought from the Education Funding Agency for each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  for how many children a direction to admit was sought from the Education Funding Agency in each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(3)  for how many children a direction to admit was granted in each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(4)  what the Education Funding Agency's average response time was to requests for direction to admit, timed from the moment that local authorities first made a request for a direction to admit in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State has powers to direct admission to an academy if a local authority makes a complaint and the academy is found to have breached the terms of its Funding Agreement or the Admissions Code. Such requests are considered by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which took over this responsibility from the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) on 1 April 2012.
	Since the start of the academic year 2011/12 the YPLA and EFA have received a total of 14 requests from local authorities to direct admission to an academy. All have been resolved without the need for the Secretary of State to issue a direction order.
	The number of requests to direct admission broken down by local authority is set out in the following table. Each case is treated on a case by case basis. In all cases, the Department and the EFA will work with the relevant local authority and schools to ensure that the child is in school as quickly as possible.
	
		
			 Requests to direct admission to an academy by local authority 
			 Local authority Number of requests sought Number of children 
			 Buckinghamshire county council 1 1 
			 Doncaster council 1 1 
			 Hillingdon council 2 10 
			 Kent county council 1 1 
			 Newham council 1 1 
			 Norfolk county council 2 2 
			 Nottinghamshire county council 1 1 
			 Stoke-on-Trent city council 2 2 
			 Suffolk county council 1 1 
			 Thurrock council 1 1 
			 Warwickshire county council 1 1 
			 Total (2011/12 academic year) 14 22 
		
	
	The Department does not collect figures on the number of children admitted to maintained schools as the result of directions issued by local authorities. Local authorities only direct a school to take a child as a last resort preferring instead to work with their schools, through the locally agreed Fair Access Protocol. This ensures, in the vast majority of cases, that children are placed in school quickly. All local authorities are required to have and operate a Fair Access Protocol, with which all schools and academies in their area are required to participate.

Schools: Admissions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure non-maintained schools do not disadvantage maintained schools by engaging in unfair admissions practices.

Nick Gibb: The School Admissions Code, which came into force on 1 February 2012, sets out a national framework that ensures that all state-funded school places, including places in academies and free schools, are awarded in a fair and open way. It is the responsibility of every admission authority to ensure that the admission arrangements they determine are compliant with the Code. Other non-maintained schools such as non-maintained special schools and independent schools are free to set their own admissions arrangements.

Schools: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of oral and written representations from Shropshire head teachers highlighting the effects on school infrastructure of Shropshire receiving less than the national average level for school funding.

Nick Gibb: The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my noble Friend, Lord Hill of Oareford, recently met my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) and a headteacher from Shropshire to discuss the future of school funding.
	As the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), set out in his statement to the House on 26 March 2012, Official Report, columns 88-89WS, we will introduce a new national funding formula during the next spending period. This will ensure that funding is distributed across the country fairly and transparently. It is important that the components of a new national formula are right and introduce change at a pace which schools can manage.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time; and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12;
	(2)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse;
	(3)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12;
	(4)  if he will place in the Library copies of the facility time agreements between trade unions and (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies;
	(5)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-department public bodies have faced disciplinary action for abusing paid facility time or public resources in each of the last five years;
	(6)  how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting;
	(7)  on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years.

Tim Loughton: In 2011-2012 the Department had three full-time and 30 part-time trade union representatives. A minimum of 396 days were used as paid facility time, 293 for duties and 103 for activities at a total cost of £220,000.
	In CAFCASS (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) there were the equivalent of 5.5 full-time officials with a total of 1,270 days facility time used at a cost of £500,000.
	The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) has two-part time officials. Additional information in relation to the cost and number of days spent on facilities time is not held centrally.
	A copy of the facilities agreements for the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the OCC have been placed in the House Libraries.
	Fewer than five trade union representatives in the Department and its non-departmental public bodies have faced disciplinary action for the misuse of facility time in the last five years.
	Included in the following table are the details of formal meetings between the Department and the trade unions. The table documents the minimum number of meetings held; additional meetings have taken place on a formal and informal basis but this information is not held centrally. This information covers the period 2011-12. Information for earlier years is not available. Information as supplied by CAFCASS and OCC is also included.
	The Department and its non-departmental public bodies do not collect information detailing the amount of facility time used to represent an employee at a meeting. All information contained here is in relation to the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) only. Information relating to NDPBs that were abolished with effect from 31 March 2012 is not available.
	
		
			 Meetings held between Department for Education and trade unions 2011-12 
			 Date Time Meeting type 
			 8 April 2011 11.00-13.00 Other 
			 11 April 2011 11.00-12.00 Other 
			 14 April 2011 15.00-17.00 Other 
			 27 April 2011 11.00-13.00 Other 
			 5 May 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 5 May 2011 11.00-12.00 Other 
			 24 May 2011 16.00-17.00 Other 
			 6 June 2011 13.00-15.00 Other 
			 13 June 2011 15.00-16.00 Other 
			 13 June 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 15 June 2011 10.00-11.00 Other 
			 5 July 2011 16.00-17.00 Other 
			 14 July 2011 15.00-17.00 Other 
			 26 July 2011 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 4 August 2011 13.00-15.00 Other 
			 20 September 2011 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 20 September 2011 15.00-16.00 Other 
			 21 September 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 4 October 2011 15.15-16.15 Other 
			 6 October 2011 10.00-10.30 Other 
			 11 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 17 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 18 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 6 December 2011 17.15-18.00 Other 
			 8 December 2011 11.15-12.00 Other 
			 16 January 2012 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 18 January 2012 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 1 February 2012 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 4 May 2011 12.30-13.30 Pay and Conditions 
			 25 May 2011 15.30-16.30 Pay and Conditions 
			 15 July 2011 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 9 August 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 September 2011 12.00-13.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 19 September 2011 13.00-15.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 27 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 16 November 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 28 November 2011 15.00-16.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 1 December 2011 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 December 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 10 January 2011 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 11 January 2012 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 25 January 2012 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 9 February 2012 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 14 February 2012 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 21 February 2012 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 March 2012 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
		
	
	Meetings held between CAFCASS and trade union 2011-12
	12 operational meetings and 10 national meetings. Further details are not available.
	Meetings held between Office for the Children’s Commissioner and trade unions
	Approximately six meetings were held. Further details are not available.

JUSTICE

Courts: Enforcement

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the potential saving to the Exchequer of privatising the court enforcement service.

Jonathan Djanogly: The policy and commercial strategy, in relation to possible future plans to work with a commercial partner to deliver criminal compliance and enforcement functions within HM Courts and Tribunals Service, is still under development. Any associated benefits and savings resulting from the implementation of such a policy are still subject to review and approval and would not be fully determined and validated until the commercial process has concluded.

Courts: Enforcement

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people are employed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service on court enforcement in each region.

Jonathan Djanogly: The number of enforcement staff in each of the HM Courts and Tribunals Service regions are as set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Region Number of enforcement staff 
			 London 231 
			 Midlands 367 
			 North East 366 
			 North West 272 
			 South East 248 
			 South West 206 
			 Wales 157 
			 Total 1,847

Family Courts: Worcestershire

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the waiting times for Family Court hearings in child protection cases in Worcestershire.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are working with system partners (Department for Education, CAFCASS (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), local authorities) to improve family performance across the board, particularly in relation to the ‘public law' cases that deal with child protection issues. This work includes assessing waiting times at courts, and working to ensure that all courts have sufficient capacity to ensure that public law cases can progress in a timely manner.
	To improve court capacity, HMCTS has allocated an extra 4,000 county court sitting days across England and Wales in this financial year, which represents an overall increase of 8,000 days compared with 2009-10. Of the 4,000 extra days released, 680 have been allocated to the Midlands region, and 31 of these have been allocated for use at Worcester county court. This represents an increase to Worcester's dedicated family sitting day allocation of just over 20%. HMCTS has also ring-fenced the sitting days allocated for family cases in the magistrates courts to ensure that they are used as intended. HMCTS are monitoring the effect that these extra days are having on the timely progression of cases, and have developed regional action plans to ensure that local performance is improved, and that any local barriers to performance improvement are tackled.
	The progression of child protection cases is managed within a judicially led framework known as the Public Law Outline (PLO). The PLO specifies that the first hearing should take place within six days from issue, and then a case management conference should be held within 45 days from issue. There are no targets for when issue resolution and final hearings should take place, but the PLO is clear that these should be at a pace that is consistent with the child's individual needs and circumstances. It must be noted however that all parties— legal representatives, local authority representatives, CAFCASS guardians, parents—must be available to attend that hearing in order for it to be effective. Waiting times for court hearings are therefore dependent not only on court capacity, but on the availability of the parties and other agencies to attend the dates offered. Public law hearings can often be up to five days, which will obviously affect the parties' ability to attend at short notice. In some cases the court will need to arrange an urgent hearing, for example to consider an application for an emergency protection order. In such cases the court will make all efforts to ensure that an emergency hearing takes place immediately. The HMCTS action plans outlined above also include a range of activities to improve adherence to the PLO, and to liaise with CAFCASS or local authorities on how attendance for hearings can be improved.
	The independent Family Justice Review, chaired by David Norgrove, put forward recommendations to improve the progression and timeliness of public law cases. The Government response, published in February this year, set out the range of actions that the Government would take to address the shortcomings identified by the review, and take its recommendations forward. One such recommendation is the establishment of a dedicated Family Justice Board, which will have the key responsibility for improving performance nationally. This national board will be supported by a network of local Family Justice Boards based around local courts and local authorities. These local boards are currently being established and will tackle local performance issues, and ensure open communication lines between courts and local child protection agencies.
	While the Government do not collect statistics on how long parties wait for hearings at particular courts, we do measure how long it takes for child protection cases to be completed. In Worcestershire, overall average case duration for care and supervision applications for October to December 2011, the latest period available, is as follows:
	Worcester county court: 70 weeks (revised since the provisional figure of 68 was published on 29 March 2012).
	Worcestershire Family Proceedings Courts: 44 weeks
	The national average for care and supervision case duration currently stands at 55 weeks, and all local case durations can be found on the Open Justice website:
	http://open.justice.gov.uk/courts/care-proceedings/
	The Government are committed to reducing this average both nationally and at all local courts, and intend to legislate for a six month time limit in child protection cases. In the meantime all agencies have been tasked, under the stewardship of the Family Justice Board, with improving their performance and reducing case duration significantly in advance of the time limit being implemented.

Fraud: Direct Mail

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to make redress more readily accessible for victims of mail scams.

Norman Lamb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	I am of course aware of the damage and harm that mail scams can have on victims and their families, and the Government recognise the need for a concerted effort to stop them. That is why the National Fraud Authority (NFA), the Metropolitan Police Service and other agencies have worked together to target this matter. They have engaged with partners, involving officials in my Department and with Royal Mail, to tackle scams and stop scam mail from getting into the postal system in the first place and sever the link between the fraudster and possible victims. A direct result of this was the recent seizure by the Metropolitan Police Service of a large consignment of scam mail.
	I believe it is important that the greatest effort is applied where it will have the greatest impact. This is by confronting and preventing the mail from getting into the postal system in the first place, and by doing so stopping this type of mail from getting anywhere near its intended victims. This needs to be intelligence-led and based on effective evidence. Where mass marketed scams originate from overseas, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Office of Fair Trading work closely with overseas counterparts to tackle the worst perpetrators.
	I am therefore confident that the Department working with appropriate bodies and the industry, is doing all it can to stop scams getting into the postal system, to ensure that consumers have access to effective advice and victims have access to support.
	In addition Action Fraud, the UK's fraud reporting centre, offers a service to all victims and potential victims of mail scams to report instances of fraud. The crime and information reports collected are sent directly to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau based at the City of London police. The data is used to inform our picture of fraud and better target resources for preventative and investigative purposes.
	www.actionfraud.police.uk
	0300 123 2040

Legal Aid Scheme

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of his Department's total procurement expenditure was spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11, (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12.

Kenneth Clarke: The proportion of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11 (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12 is as shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Quarter Proportion represented as a percentage (%) 
			 January to March 11 (fourth quarter of 2010-11) 40 
		
	
	
		
			 April to June 13 (first quarter of 2011-12) 37 
			 July to September 11 (second quarter of 2011-12) 42

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: In 2010-11, the Department lost four items of equipment worth more than £10,000. No items of equipment of this value were lost in 2011-12.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 2 April 2012 with regard to Mr M Lawless.

Kenneth Clarke: I have written to the right hon. Member today.

Parc Prison

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve pastoral support for prisoners at Parc Prison, Bridgend; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: We wish to ensure that prisoners from all religious faiths are given the opportunity and facilities to practice their religion. All prisons have multi-faith chaplaincy teams to facilitate this and to provide pastoral support to prisoners and staff.
	At HMP and YOI Parc, the chaplaincy provides pastoral support to anyone who needs it, regardless of faith background. The support available meets the needs of the prison population and there are no immediate plans to change the existing arrangements.

Prisons: Video Recordings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make an assessment of the powers used by HM Prison Ranby to request video footage from the West Retford Hotel in 2011 and 2012.

Crispin Blunt: The use of third-party overt CCTV in the course of administering disciplinary proceedings is not in breach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and no further action is necessary.

Private Prosecutions

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 180W, on alternatives to prison: Greater Manchester, 
	(1)  whether his Department keeps records of payments made to meet defendants' costs from central funds in private prosecutions;
	(2)  how much has been paid from central funds to meet defendants' costs in private prosecutions in (a) total and (b) cases brought by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals in each of the last five financial years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Department keeps records of payments made to meet defendant's costs from central funds, but departmental accounting systems do not identify centrally payments where the prosecution had been brought (a) privately or (b) by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals.

Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of payments made by his Department to small and medium-sized enterprises have been paid late since May 2010.

Kenneth Clarke: In line with the Prompt Payment Code the Ministry of Justice aims to pay all valid and authorised invoices within five working days. Details of overall payment performance are published monthly on the Ministry of Justice website that shows yearly average performance of 86.3% for 2011-12.
	The details are not broken down by supplier type therefore we are unable to separate small medium-sized enterprises from the overall figures. The link to our payment performance is as follows:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/procurement-and-commercial/payment-performance

Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of his Department's expenditure on procurement has gone to small and medium-sized enterprises since May 2010.

Kenneth Clarke: The proportion of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) spend with small and medium enterprises since May 2010 is as shown in the following table:
	
		
			 As at April to March each year Proportion represented as a percentage (%) 
			 2010-11 16 
			 2011-12 34

Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department began including contracts to legal aid providers in its figures for procurement expenditure with small and medium-sized enterprises.

Kenneth Clarke: Legal aid providers have been included in the Ministry of Justice figures for procurement expenditure with small and medium-sized enterprises since April 2011.
	The Ministry of Justice is still in the process of reviewing and classifying legal aid providers.

Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department next expects to undertake a spend recovery audit to identify overpayments to suppliers caused by fraud or error.

Kenneth Clarke: The Cabinet Office is in the process of developing a starter information pack for every Department and arm’s length body on how to implement a spend-recovery audit. The information pack will be available from the Cabinet Office in May 2012.
	Once the information pack has been received, Ministry of Justice Internal Audit and Assurance will plan for a spend-recovery audit in their annual audit programme.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: No new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by the Ministry of Justice in either 2010-11 or 2011-12.
	However, the Ministry of Justice is actively exploring opportunities to encourage public service mutuals across its services. In our recent consultation, “Punishment and reform: effective probation services”, we set out our intention to support new models for delivering probation services, such as joint ventures, social enterprises and public service mutuals, and are consulting on how we can best support staff in this process.

Restraint Techniques: Safety

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the safety of prison officers over the age of 60 whose duties include the restraint of prisoners.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service has a wide range of measure in place to assess the safety of all prison officers, all of whose duties will include the restraint of prisoners.
	The measures include violence reduction strategies designed to reduce the likelihood of restraint being necessary. These include:
	Reception assessment and ongoing information sharing re prisoners history and behaviour
	National and local security strategies
	Security reporting and intelligence analysis
	Individual and cell searching procedures
	Serious incident reporting and analysis
	Predictive risk assessment tools for offending behaviour
	Violence reduction strategies and groups
	Zero Tolerance anti-violence campaign
	Locking procedures
	Cell and prison building and fabric layout and design
	Promotion of de-escalation and talk-down strategies
	Training and guidance on communication with prisoners
	To manage the residual risk, all Prison Officers receive extensive training in the use of Control and Restraint techniques both in their initial training (32 hours with a four hour assessment) and then in an annual “refresher” training session lasting one day.
	A fitness testing program for officers is also in place and has been a contractual requirement for all staff who have been appointed as prison officers since April 2001.
	Occupational health advice on individual cases can also be sought where necessary.

Restraint Techniques: Safety

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to ensure that prison officers over the age of 60 will not be involved in (a) the physical restraint of prisoners and (b) other activities which may cause them injury.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service does not differentiate between Prison Officers based on their age. It has a wide range of measures in place to reduce the likelihood of all prison officers being involved in (a) the physical restraint of prisoners and (b) other activities that may cause them harm. These measures are in place to protect all prison officers and are not related to the age of the prison officer.
	The measures to reduce the likelihood of prison officers being involved in the physical restraint of prisoners include a number of violence reduction strategies. These include:
	Reception assessment and ongoing information sharing re prisoners history and behaviour
	National and local security strategies
	Security reporting and intelligence analysis
	Individual and cell searching procedures
	Serious incident reporting and analysis
	Predictive risk assessment tools for offending behaviour
	Violence reduction strategies and groups
	Zero Tolerance anti-violence campaign
	Locking procedures
	Cell and prison building and fabric layout and design
	Promotion of de-escalation and talk-down strategies
	Training and guidance on communication with prisoners
	NOMS has an Occupational Health and Safety Policy which requires managers to undertake assessments of all the risks in their establishments. These risk assessments will identify any other activities in the work place that may cause harm. They will assess the risks of these activities, identify the staff affected, and the appropriate control measures required to reduce the risks. This does include those staff who are judged to be no longer physically capable of carrying out their duties.
	These risks and the effectiveness of the control measures will be monitored by managers and the risk assessment and control measures revised as necessary.

Russia

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whom he met on his visit to Russia in May 2012;
	(2)  whether he discussed (a) the rule of law, (b) human rights, (c) legal nihilism and (d) corruption in Russia in May 2012; with whom each such discussion took place; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  whether he discussed the cases of (a) Sergei Magnitsky, (b) Vasily Alexanyan and (c) Mikhail Khodorkovsky on his visit to Russia in May 2012; with whom each such discussion took place; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  whether he was accompanied by any other hon. Member on his visit to Russia in May 2012.

Kenneth Clarke: I met a number of Russian legal experts to discuss human rights and the rule of law. These included the Vice Rector of Faculty of Law of St Petersburg State University; the Chair of the Freedom of Information Foundation; the Vice Rector and Director of the Rule of Law Institute at the European University of St Petersburg; a Managing Partner at Baker and Mackenzie St Petersburg; and the Senior Legal Monitor for Russia at the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre.
	I also met human rights experts and John Smith Fellows to discuss a range of human rights issues. Organisations included Citizens Watch; ‘Memorial' (anti-discrimination organisation);, ‘Coming Out' (LGBT rights organisation); ‘Side by Side' (the St Petersburg International LGBT Film Festival); St Petersburg's Human Rights Ombudsman; Human Rights Watch's Russia office; the Centre for Development of Democracy and Human Rights; and the John Smith Trust Representative in Russia.
	I met a number of Justice Ministers, including the Russian Justice Minister, Alexander Konovalov, to discuss justice co-operation, rule of law, the protection of human rights (including the cases of Sergei Magnilsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and legal sector reform. I also met Eric Holder, the US Attorney-General, to discuss justice and security issues.
	I took part in a roundtable with a mixed audience of researchers, business people, judiciary and local government officials where I spoke about the Bribery Act 2010 and anti-corruption measures. Other participants included Professor Vadim Volkov, Director of the Institute for Rule of Law, St Petersburg European University; Igor Strelov. Chair of the North West Russia Commercial Court; and the hon. Mr Justice David Steel.
	I met Anton Ivanov, President of the Russian Supreme Commercial Court, to discuss legal sector regulation and its impact on attracting foreign business and the benefits of continuing judicial exchanges through the Slynn Foundation. I also met Valery Zorkin, Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court to discuss the judicial reform agenda in Russia; Russia's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights; and human rights more generally.
	I was accompanied on this visit by my Parliamentary Private Secretary the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace).

Unpaid Fines

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the rate was of non-payment of criminal fines in each region in each of the last three years.

Jonathan Djanogly: Over the last few years there as been an increase in fine collections. Last year (2011) we collected £277 million in fines compared to £251 million in 2009—a 10% increase. Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) performance indicators include the payment rate for financial penalties, which is calculated as the value of financial penalties collected in year as a percentage of the value of financial impositions made in the same year less the value of any judicial or administrative cancellations. The monies collected may relate to financial penalties imposed in that or earlier years. As a result it is not possible to show a non-payment rate.
	Table 1, as follows, shows the payment rate for each HMCTS region in the 2011, 2010 and 2009 calendar years.
	
		
			 Table 1: HMCTS payment rate for financial penalties by region in the calendar years 2011, 2010 and 2009 
			 Percentage 
			 Region 2011 2010 2009 
			 England and Wales 102 93 83 
			 London 80 69 74 
			 Midlands 125 109 86 
			 North East 105 107 83 
			 North West 101 84 89 
			 South East 109 99 84 
			 South West 101 89 81 
			 Wales 105 106 80 
		
	
	Each year a number of fines are administratively cancelled in accordance with strict cancellation criteria including reasons such as the offender having died or permanently emigrated, the amount outstanding being less than £10, the offender was a limited company that has been wound up or the offender cannot be traced and the fine is over 12 months old.
	Table 2, as follows, shows the payment rate when excluding fines which have been administratively cancelled from the calculation.
	
		
			 Table 2: HMCTS payment rate for financial penalties by region in the calendar years 2011, 2010 and 2009 excluding administrative cancellations 
			 Percentage 
			 Region 2011 2010 2009 
			 England and Wales 84 80 71 
			 London 60 53 54 
			 Midlands 94 92 75 
			 North East 94 95 75 
			 North West 90 78 80 
			 South East 85 89 72 
			 South West 94 82 74 
			 Wales 95 91 74 
		
	
	HMCTS has achieved this improved payment rate by focusing on early compliance with financial impositions by using a number of methods such as the use of telephone and text message reminders to defaulters, intelligence tracing tools, increased use of enforcement sanctions like deduction from benefit orders and attachment of earnings and targeted payment blitzes on specific groups of defaulters. There are a number of other initiatives being developed to further improve the collection of financial penalties.
	The Ministry of Justice now publishes in Court Statistics Quarterly, an experimental statistic which shows the time taken to collect financial penalties through accounting centres in the magistrates courts. This new information has been collected since April 2011 sourced from accounting information held on the Libra Management Information System (MIS). It includes the total amount imposed in each quarter and the amount and percentage of that which is paid within one, three and six months of imposition.
	Financial penalties include amounts for fines, costs, prosecution costs, legal aid, victim surcharge, compensation and unpaid fixed penalties and penalty notices for disorder that are registered as fines for enforcement. Accounts still open include fines that are being collected by instalments, those with deductions from benefit and those which have been given time to pay.

Victim Support Schemes

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to ensure that the arrangements for commissioning victims' services by police and crime commissioners (a) costs no more than the current system and (b) does not result in a lower quality of service;
	(2)  if he will consider ring-fencing the funding available for victims' services following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners;
	(3)  what arrangements he plans to put in place to inspect victims' services following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners;
	(4)  what minimum standards he proposes will apply to services for victims of crime following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners; and what steps he plans to take where such minimum standards are not met.

Crispin Blunt: Our consultation, ‘Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses’ closed on 22 April. We are considering the responses to the consultation, which in relation to our commissioning proposals included views on quality, ring-fencing, minimum standards and administrative costs. We will publish the Government response soon.

Victim Support Schemes

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to place the Victims' Code on a statutory footing.

Crispin Blunt: A key proposal in our consultation document ‘Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses', published on 30 January, is that there should be a new, clearer, Victims' Code and we sought views on a set of principles on which we think a new code should be based. The consultation closed on 22 April and we plan to publish the Government's response to the consultation in the summer.
	There is already a statutory basis for the Victims' Code. It is made under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Rio+20 Conference

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the draft outcomes document for the Rio+20 conference in June 2012.

Andrew Mitchell: The draft outcomes document includes positive statements on green growth and sustainable development, but it is unwieldy. The Department for International Development will continue to work hard alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in negotiations on the outcome document to be agreed at Rio+20.

Jordan Valley: Water Supplies

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has made to the Israeli Government on water supply policies in the Jordan valley.

Andrew Mitchell: The fair and effective distribution of shared water resources across the middle east is of great concern to the UK and our embassy regularly raises these issues with the Israeli authorities. We continue to call on Israel to fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law, including ensuring Palestinian access to water.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries.

Stephen O'Brien: DFID is actively helping to increase employment and investment opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Over the next seven years DFID's support will help create more than one million jobs and mobilise loans to over 200,000 SMEs, at least a quarter of which will be headed by women.

Arab Partnership Fund

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent progress has been made by the Arab Partnership Fund.

Andrew Mitchell: The Arab Partnership Fund, under Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development control, continues to make significant progress.

Procurement Policy

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's policy is on the procurement of goods and services from the UK for the purposes of foreign aid.

Stephen O'Brien: The International Development Act 2002 requires aid to be untied, and EU Public Procurement directives mandate EU-wide competition. However, I am happy to confirm that in 2010-11, 92% of centrally let DFID contracts were let to UK registered companies after open competition.

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development does not maintain a central record of all complaints made about its work or that of its non-departmental public bodies. Providing the full information requested would incur disproportionate cost.
	Figures on formal complaints are available for certain functions as follows:
	
		
			 Function 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Public Enquiries 0 0 
			 Overseas Pensions 4 1 
			 Recruitment 0 0 
		
	
	Complaints on handling of requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are published by the Ministry of Justice:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/foi/implementation

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Andrew Mitchell: Details of ministerial meetings are available on the website of the Department for International Development (DFID)
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/Our-organisation/Ministers/#travel
	and are published every quarter in the normal way.
	Providing the full information requested regarding officials would incur disproportionate cost.

Sahel

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department plans to send ministerial level representation to the African Union Conference on the food shortage in the Sahel.

Andrew Mitchell: We understand from sources within the United Nations that the planned African Union Conference has been put on hold. Once a revised date has been scheduled and a draft agenda issued, we will be in a more appropriate position to consider whether the UK is represented by a Minister or by a suitably qualified official.

Sahel

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if his Department will take steps during the African Union Conference on the food shortage in the Sahel to agree measures to (a) mitigate fluctuating food prices in the region and (b) support the ECOWAS PREPARE project.

Andrew Mitchell: We understand from sources within the United Nations that the planned African Union Conference has been put on hold. Once a revised date has been scheduled and a draft agenda issued, we will be in a more appropriate position to consider the extent of UK participation.
	We are engaging and monitoring progress on the ECOWAS PREPARE proposal. Food price volatility poses a very significant risk to food security in the Sahel. We welcome the proposal's regional focus, but have some concerns about certain aspects of the design, for example why food transfer is the only option considered and the level of participation by the 11 target countries in the design process. More work is needed on the project before we can consider UK support.

Sahel

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make it his policy to support social protection as part of his Department's new resilience strategy for the Sahel region.

Andrew Mitchell: The UK has been a major supporter of social protection programmes in Africa and recognises that providing poor people with social safety nets helps reduce their vulnerability to food crises. In drought-prone countries where the Department for International Development (DFID) has bilateral development programmes, we have made major investments in social protection programmes such as the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia and the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Kenya.
	In the Sahel we recognise that it is vital to expand social protection programmes to protect people from future food crises. Without bilateral programmes in the region, DFID cannot provide direct support to national social protection programmes; however our multilateral partners—notably the World Bank and the United Nations—do support social safety net programmes in the Sahel.

CABINET OFFICE

Big Lottery Fund

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on what dates he has met the Chair of the Big Lottery Fund since May 2010; what issues were discussed at each meeting; if he will publish the minutes and agenda of the meetings; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: I met Peter Ainsworth on 13 June 2011, 13 October 2011 and 16 January 2012 to discuss a range of issues relating to the Big Lottery Fund.

Bowel Cancer

Mark Menzies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people in each strategic health authority area were diagnosed with bowel cancer in England in each quarter of the last 12 months.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck dated May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people in each strategic health authority were diagnosed with bowel cancer in England in each quarter of the last 12 months.
	The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of bowel cancer (incidence) are for the year 2010. Please note that these numbers may not be the same as the number of people diagnosed with cancer, because one person may be diagnosed with more than one cancer.
	The table below provides the number of diagnoses (incidence) of bowel cancer for strategic health authorities in England, for each quarter of 2010.
	The latest published figures on incidence of cancer in England are available on the National Statistics website:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition=tcm%3A77-27451
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of newly diagnosed cases of malignant neoplasm of the bowel by strategic health authority and by quarter, England, 2010 (1, 2, 3) 
			 Persons 
			 SHA Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total 
			 England 8,117 8,584 8,433 8,084 33,218 
			       
			 North East 428 440 521 451 1,840 
			 North West 1,063 1,177 1,167 1,133 4,540 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 839 858 828 794 3,319 
			 East Midlands 759 843 691 736 3,029 
			 West Midlands 906 949 914 879 3,648 
			 East of England 992 1,015 969 1,005 3,981 
			 London 794 797 855 746 3,192 
			 South East Coast 711 781 822 752 3,066 
			 South Central 597 659 621 649 2,526 
			 South West 1,028 1,065 1,045 939 4,077 
			 (1) Figures are for cases diagnosed in 2010 and exclude non-residents. (2 )Cancer of the bowel was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C18 to 20. (3 )Figures are based on boundaries as of February 2012. Source: Office for National Statistics

Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of Government contracts were awarded to (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized businesses in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Francis Maude: This Government have an aspiration that 25% of its buying should go to SMEs by 2015.
	A Progress Report on central Government business with SMEs was published on 9 March 2012 and is available on the Cabinet Office website at:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/making-government-business-more-accessible-smes-one-year
	While data are not held on the exact proportion of contracts awarded to micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The proportion of direct Government spend with SMEs was 6.5% in 2009-10 and reached 13.7% by the end of the 2011-12 financial year.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what measures his Department introduced to reduce the carbon emissions of 10 Downing street in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012;
	(2)  what the total level of carbon emissions was of 10 Downing street between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Francis Maude: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	The Government are fully committed to the Greening Government Commitment (GCC). The Cabinet Office has already reduced carbon emissions by 25.7% as at the third quarter of 2011-12 when compared with the 2009-10 baseline. A number of measures have been taken to achieve this, including increased thermal insulation and the introduction of intelligent lighting systems.
	As part of the GGC, the Cabinet Office publishes its performance on a quarterly basis. The performance for Q4 in 2011-12 will be published shortly at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-greening-government-performance

Charities

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many charities deregistered in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission, have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 18 May 2012
	.
	The Charity Commission removes charities from the Register for a variety of reasons. It may be that a charity has ceased to exist or operate, or may have merged, incorporated or transferred its funds to another charity.
	
		
			  Number of charities removed 
			 2010 6,398 
			 2011 7,394 
		
	
	This information is publicly available on our website:
	http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ShowCharity/RegisterOfCharities/AdvancedSearch.aspx

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: This information is not held centrally.

Fuel Oil: Coventry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what has been the estimated average household expenditure on heating fuel bills in Coventry in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what has been the estimated average household expenditure on heating fuel bills in Coventry in each of the last 10 years. (108703)
	The Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF), which is a sample survey covering approximately 5,000 households in the UK, collects data on expenditure on gas, electricity and other fuels. Unfortunately, estimates of household expenditure at local authority level are not available due to small sample sizes.

Israel

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he has taken to ensure that the Government do not procure goods, produce or services from illegal Israeli settlements.

Francis Maude: The UK opposes boycotts which we think are counter-productive.
	The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 set out the procedures to be followed by public authorities when they wish to procure goods, works and services. These include mechanisms by which a company may be excluded from a tender exercise, for example where a company has been convicted of a criminal offence in connection with their business or profession, or has committed an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of their business or profession.

Major Projects Authority

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many times the Major Projects Authority has met since May 2010; on what dates; if he will publish the minutes of each meeting; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Major Projects Authority board has met seven times since May 2010. The dates were:
	28 June 2011
	28 July 2011
	26 September 2011
	1 November 2011
	29 November 2011
	27 March 2012
	23 April 2012
	We do not publish the note of the meetings.

Population

Frank Field: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he can give a percentage breakdown of the total population by economic status of family for each of the last 30 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking us to make an estimate of the percentage breakdown of the total population by economic status of family for each of the last 30 years (108102).
	The ONS regularly publishes information on the economic status of households but this data only goes back to 1996. The latest information which is for April to June of each year, up to 2011, can be found in the following table.
	It shows that for 2011 there are 20.6 million households in the UK that contain at least one adult aged 16 to 64. Of these 53.5% are where all adults in the household are working, 27.7% are households containing a mixture of adults in work and out of work and 18.8% are households where no adult works.
	
		
			 Households (1)  by combined economic activity status of household members 
			 Not seasonally adjusted 
			   Mixed households (2) 
			 April to June each year Working households Employed and unemployed Employed and inactive Employed unemployed and inactive All mixed households 
			 Percentage      
			 1996 51.7 4.0 21.9 1.5 27.4 
			 1997 53.2 3.6 22.1 1.3 27.0 
			 1998 53.8 3.2 22.3 1.1 26.6 
			 1999 54.6 3.2 22.2 1.1 26.5 
			 2000 55.7 2.9 21.9 1.0 25.8 
			 2001 56.0 2.6 21.9 1.0 25.6 
			 2002 56.0 2.8 21.8 1.0 25.7 
			 2003 56.0 2.8 22.2 1.1 26.1 
			 2004 56.2 2.8 22.3 1.0 26.1 
			 2005 56.2 2.8 22.1 1.0 25.9 
			 2006 56.0 3.3 22.1 1.2 26.6 
			 2007 55.9 3.1 22.3 1.2 26.6 
			 2008 56.0 3.2 22.2 1.2 26.6 
			 2009 53.8 4.6 21.5 1.5 27.7 
			 2010 53.0 4.4 21.7 1.6 27.8 
			 2011 53.5 4.4 21.5 1.7 27.7 
			       
			 Change on year 0.5 0.0 -0.2 0.1 -0.1 
			       
			 Thousand      
			 1996 9,672 745 4,103 279 5,128 
			 1997 9,974 682 4,136 241 5,059 
			 1998 10,177 612 4,211 204 5,027 
			 1999 10,376 600 4,229 207 5,036 
			 2000 10,682 554 4,208 190 4,953 
			 2001 10,802 509 4,228 198 4,935 
			 2002 10,914 553 4,257 191 5,001 
			 2003 10,975 543 4,353 214 5,110 
			 2004 11,001 545 4,366 201 5,112 
			 2005 11,137 550 4,379 202 5,131 
			 2006 11,141 664 4,395 237 5,296 
			 2007 11,201 623 4,456 241 5,320 
			 2008 11,312 643 4,495 237 5,375 
			 2009 10,920 942 4,376 310 5,628 
			 2010 10,812 907 4,437 336 5,680 
			 2011 10,999 914 4,428 356 5,698 
			       
			 Change on year 187 7 -9 19 18 
		
	
	
		
			 Not seasonally adjusted 
			  Workless households  
			 April to June each year All unemployed Unemployed and inactive All inactive All workless households All households 
			 Percentage      
			 1996 3.0 2.6 15.2 20.9 100.0 
			 1997 2.6 2.2 15.0 19.8 100.0 
			 1998 2.3 1.8 15.5 19.6 100.0 
			 1999 2.2 1.8 15.0 19.0 100.0 
			 2000 2.0 1.5 15.0 18.5 100.0 
			 2001 1.8 1.4 15.3 18.5 100.0 
			 2002 1.8 1.3 15.3 18.4 100.0 
			 2003 1.6 1.3 15.0 17.9 100.0 
			 2004 1.5 1.3 15.0 17.8 100.0 
			 2005 1.5 1.1 15.2 17.9 100.0 
			 2006 1.6 1.4 14.3 17.3 100.0 
			 2007 1.7 1.4 14.4 17.5 100.0 
			 2008 1.7 1.3 14.5 17.4 100.0 
			 2009 2.4 1.9 14.2 18.5 100.0 
			 2010 2.7 1.8 14.7 19.2 100.0 
			 2011 2.8 1.8 14.2 18.8 100.0 
			       
			 Change on year 0.2 0.0 -0.5 -0.3 0.0 
			       
			 Thousand      
			 1996 562 496 2,842 3,899 18,700 
			 1997 479 420 2,807 3,705 18,737 
			 1998 428 348 2,929 3,705 18,909 
			 1999 416 337 2,853 3,606 19,019 
			 2000 376 296 2,874 3,546 19,181 
			 2001 338 279 2,946 3,563 19,299 
			 2002 349 255 2,977 3,581 19,496 
			 2003 314 255 2,928 3,497 19,582 
			 2004 291 246 2,941 3,478 19,591 
			 2005 299 221 3,018 3,539 19,807 
			 2006 327 271 2,844 3,443 19,879 
			 2007 330 278 2,893 3,502 20,023 
			 2008 337 257 2,933 3,527 20,214 
			 2009 493 382 2,891 3,767 20,315 
			 2010 546 364 3,005 3,915 20,407 
			 2011 583 372 2,923 3,877 20,574 
			       
			 Change on year 37 7 -82 -38 167 
			 (1) Households including at least one person aged 16 to 64. (2) Mixed households contain both working and workless members. (3) While the LFS goes back further than 1996, statistics on work and worklessness only go back to this date. Source: Labour Force Survey household datasets

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office publishes a full set of accounts every year, audited by the National Audit Office. Copies of the accounts for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are available at the following links:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1011/hc02/0282/0282.asp
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1012/hc09/0999/0999.asp
	The Cabinet Office accounts for 2011-12 are still being audited.
	As part of my Department's transparency programme, detailed expenditure information, including all transactions over £25,000 and payments made by GPC card over £500, can be found at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-spend-data
	The Cabinet Office reviews its expenditure and forecasts on a regular basis, taking particular care not to over-spend against its agreed budget.
	My Department does not spend simply to avoid an underspend. If, during the year the reviews of expenditure and forecast indicated an overall underspend, we would discuss the possibility of utilising the Budget Exchange mechanism with HM Treasury at the earliest opportunity.

Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many of his Department's employees have been made redundant in the last two years.

Francis Maude: The last two years of published information on redundancies and other paid departures in the Cabinet Office are available in the Cabinet Office report and accounts for 2009-10 and 2010-11 on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts
	Audited figures for the number of redundancies and other paid departures during 2011-12 are not yet available but will be published in the Cabinet Office report and accounts 2011-12.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department has taken to encourage companies which offer apprenticeships to hire the apprentice after they have completed their training.

David Willetts: Apprentices must be formally employed during their apprenticeship and a large number are employed on permanent contracts which continue once their training has completed.
	After investing heavily in an apprentice, it makes business sense for the employer to keep employing the individual when their apprenticeship ends.
	Evidence shows that apprenticeships deliver economic and social benefits to individuals in terms of higher wages and improved employment prospects; to businesses in the form of higher profits and increased competitiveness; and to the wider economy and society as a whole. We will continue to champion these benefits to encourage employers to invest in apprenticeships. The recent apprenticeship survey published on 15 May shows that 85% of apprentices who completed their apprenticeship in the last 12 months were employed by an employer at the time of the survey, with a further 4% being self employed.

Apprentices: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in the London borough of Bexley employ an apprentice.

John Hayes: Data is collected at the workplace rather than the business level, with some businesses having several workplaces. In Bexley local education authority there were 470 workplaces with at least one apprentice in-learning in the 2010/11 academic year.
	Information on the number of apprenticeship starts is published in a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 29 March 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
	Further breakdowns are available in SFR supplementary tables:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/

Erasmus

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which UK institutions have taken part in the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus External Co-operation Window.

David Willetts: Following the incorporation of the External Co-operation Window into the second phase of Erasmus Mundus (2009-13) as Action 2, Strand 1, the following UK Higher Institutions have been awarded funding to participate in the programme:
	2011
	The City University
	University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
	The university of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	The university of Glasgow
	University of Glamorgan
	The university of Westminster
	University College London
	The university of Leeds
	Bournemouth University
	The university of Kent
	2010
	University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
	The City university
	Swansea Metropolitan university
	Oxford Brookes university
	University College London
	Staffordshire University
	University of the West of England, Bristol
	Prior to the second phase of Erasmus Mundus, the following UK Higher Education institutions participated in the External Cooperation Window:
	2009
	The university of Westminster
	The university of Southampton
	The university of Kent
	University College London
	The university of Bath
	The university of Cambridge
	2008
	Cardiff University
	The university of Westminster
	The university of Brighton
	The university of Southampton
	The university of York
	The university of Manchester
	Staffordshire University
	The university of Bradford
	The university of Cambridge
	2007
	The university of Southampton

European Commission: Higher Education

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of educational projects under the Tempus IV of the European Commission colleges that have been awarded to UK universities.

David Willetts: The deadline for the submission of applications for the fifth round of Tempus IV was 23 February 2012.
	In all, 530 proposals were received by the Commission.
	180 proposals involved a UK higher education institution (32 proposals are to be coordinated by a UK higher education institution).
	These proposals are currently being evaluated by the Commission. The evaluation committee is due to conclude the assessment of proposals by 6 July 2012.
	The results for previous rounds are as follows:
	
		
			 Round Total selected proposals Selected proposals involving a UK higher education institution 
			 4 62 24 
			 3 64 19 
			 2 69 24 
			 1 84 20

European Commission: Higher Education

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to increase the proportion of the European Commission's Tempus IV projects being signed with UK institutions.

David Willetts: As the UK's national contact point, the British Council is responsible for supporting UK higher education institutions wishing to participate, or currently participating in Tempus.
	In 2012/13 the British Council will support UK higher education institutions (HEIs) as follows:
	Provide information to the network of HEI's on Tempus and opportunities to apply for Tempus funding via online media including web content and e-flyers.
	Organise events bringing together representatives of UK HEI's, experienced Tempus practitioners, members of the UK team of Bologna Experts and representatives of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. These events are designed to promote programmes funded by the European Commission including Tempus, and provide practical information to support those institutions considering applying. These events will include a Tempus information day which will be widely promoted to UK HEI's and will be held shortly after the invitation to submit applications is announced by the European Commission.
	Arrange for members of the UK team of Bologna Experts to visit HEI's to provide counselling sessions and present workshops on the opportunities available to institutions through European Commission funded programmes including Tempus.
	Offer direct support and guidance to institutions throughout the year including those currently participating in the Tempus programme and those interested in submitting an application.

Higher Education: Risk Assessments

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to his answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 137W, on risk assessment, what risk registers his Department holds in relation to universities; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: BIS provides support to universities for teaching and research. Each of the workstreams within this support system has in place a programme with the appropriate governance, project management and assurance structures and processes to identify, manage and escalate risks. BIS does not hold risk registers for individual universities.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed at the latest period for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) employed 3,492 full-time equivalent employees in May 2010. The latest available figures, as at March 2012, show BIS employs 2,930 full-time equivalent employees. The figures include UK Trade and Investment.

Manufacturing Industries

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the report, Manufacturing the Future, by BDO LLP; and whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the report relating to (a) the establishment of an industrial bank, (b) working with the Department for Education to ensure the education system develops the skills needed for manufacturing and engineering, (c) more patriotism in the awarding of Government contracts and (d) greater innovation by his Department in providing funding support for the manufacturing and engineering sector.

Mark Prisk: We are grateful to BDO LLP for their contribution to the debate on how we grow manufacturing in the UK. The Government fully recognise the importance of manufacturing, its vital contribution to the growth of a more sustainable UK economy and its key role in rebalancing the economy, which is why it remains central to the Strategy for Growth. In respect of the specific areas highlighted by the hon. Member, the Government are acting as follows:
	(a) Ensuring that businesses are able to access the credit they need to start and grow is a Government priority. Discussion about an industrial bank is not new. It is right that the Government actively consider all of the available options to support the economic recovery.
	(b) BIS works closely with the Department for Education to ensure Government policies to attract students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects throughout their educational careers are coherent. BIS's partnership with the Department for Education (DFE) also looks to ensure that the education system delivers the skills needed by the manufacturing and engineering sectors. For example at a meeting on 8 May chaired by the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), industry and awarding organisations agreed their involvement in the development of new qualifications which will reflect the quality and attractiveness of the Engineering Diploma and Principal Learning in Engineering, while recognising the learning time involved in delivering this.
	(c) On procurement, the Government have a responsibility to purchase high quality goods and services which offer value for money for the UK taxpayer. But we also want to do this in a way that supports UK-based business in key growth areas. We believe the current framework is well suited to help us do that.
	In November, we announced that we would take a new approach to procurement that takes greater consideration of its impact on UK-based businesses. We published a forward programme of work across a number of sectors, updated with an additional £70 billion in April, and we will continue to expand upon this. This will provide greater certainty to industry. But we will also use this information to develop sector strategies in partnership with industry, to strengthen supply chains in the UK.
	We want the public sector to be a responsible customer and develop a collaborative long-term relationship with our supply chain. This can help businesses plan for and develop the long-term capabilities the UK needs.
	Further information can be found at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/70-billion-potential-government-business-published-boost-uk-growth
	(d) The best ways in which the Government can support the manufacturing and engineering sectors is at the heart of a range of ongoing discussions between Government and industry which inform all our activity. We have already hosted two manufacturing summits, and through joint industry/government councils and other forums, we are developing strategies in key sectors, including Automotive, Aerospace and Maritime.
	In the Budget we were able to respond to some of the issues raised in these discussions with:
	An ambition to increase exports from £488 billion in 2011 to £1 trillion by 2020 as part of the National Export Challenge;
	Investment of £60 million to establish a UK centre for aerodynamics to open in 2012-13 to support innovation in aerospace technology and commercialise new ideas;
	Funding of £100 million to support investment in major new university research facilities, bids in 2012-13 with co-investment from the private sector;
	The final two Catapult Centres, in Transport Systems and Future Cities;
	A cut in corporation tax of an additional 1% this year so that it falls to 22% by 2014, meaning the UK's main rate will the lowest in the G7 and the 4th lowest in the G20;
	The Patent Box, which will be introduced from April 2013, will give a reduced rate of 10% corporation tax on profits from patents and certain other similar types of intellectual property.
	It is vital that we rebuild manufacturing supply chains. We have already committed £7 million for supply chain activity to the Manufacturing Advisory Service,
	www.mymas.org
	which was relaunched in January. And following the second manufacturing summit in February we launched the £125 million Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, which will be used to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains by supporting innovative projects where the UK is well placed to take a global lead. The competition has two funding streams with deadlines for applications falling in June and September. More details can be found on the Technology Strategy Board website:
	http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/advanced-manufacturing-supply-chain-initiative.ashx
	At the manufacturing summit in February, we announced an additional £1 billion for a further round of the Regional Growth Fund—taking the fund total to £2.4 billion. Manufacturing is one of the biggest winners so far, and was allocated around £420 million in the first two rounds. More information can be found at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/rgf
	The closing date for applications is 13 June.

New Businesses

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of new business mentors recruited in (a) Lancashire, (b) the North West and (c) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mark Prisk: Get Mentoring is a SFEDI-led (Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative) project, supported by grant funding (from both BIS and the Government Equalities Office), to recruit and train 15,000 volunteer business mentors from the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) community.
	To date, over 11,000 volunteers have been recruited through this initiative, around 12% of whom are based in the north west. This estimate is only approximate and based on the location of the workshop they attended. We do not currently have the data to ascertain how many were recruited from Lancashire specifically.

North Africa and Middle East

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of renewable energy and recycling in the middle east and north Africa.

Mark Prisk: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Energy and Climate Change lead the Government's international efforts to promote sustainable economic growth around the world, including secure and affordable energy, resource efficiency and low carbon solutions.
	UK Trade & Investment supports this work by promoting UK capability in the renewable and environment sectors. Current initiatives include a visit to the UK for the All-Energy Exhibition and Conference, the UK's largest renewable energy event, by UKTI commercial officers from north Africa and the middle east; a visit by UK companies to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia focusing on solar and onshore wind generation; and we shall use the British Business Embassy at Lancaster House during the Olympics to showcase UK capabilities in renewable energy and recycling to a global audience, including senior public and private sector decision makers from the middle east and north Africa.

Patents: EU Action

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on the UK's bid to host the European Patent Court; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Government want to see a Europe-wide patent system that brings real benefits for innovative businesses, consumers and the economy. Negotiations on the whole package of European patent reform, including the unitary patent and unified patent court, are still ongoing. The location of the central division of the unified patent court is an important issue which is still being discussed. It is also important that we get the details of how the court will work right.
	The Government have made a strong case for the UK to host the seat of the central division of the patent court. This was set out in the letter the Minister for intellectual property, my noble Friend Baroness Wilcox, sent to the Polish Government, who were then coordinating the negotiations, in December 2011.
	The Danish Government, who are currently coordinating the negotiations, are trying to agree a deal on the patent court by June this year. We are an active and positive participant in those ongoing discussions and remain strongly committed to locating the central division of the unified patent court in the UK. We are also determined that the details of the proposals deliver the most effective arrangements for UK business and their representatives who will use the court.

Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of his Department's employees have been made redundant in the last two years.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) ran a voluntary exit scheme in September-October 2010, under which 330 staff left the Department.
	In February 2011 the Department launched a redundancy scheme which resulted in a further 259 staff leaving. 242 of these staff left on voluntary redundancy terms while the remaining 17 were made compulsory redundant.
	The payments were all made in accordance with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme rules that are administered by the Cabinet Office.

Retail Trade: Newspaper Press

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to support small retailers and newsagents following the 2009 Office of Fair Trading decision not to refer the newspaper and magazine distribution sector to the Competition Commission.

Norman Lamb: The Office of Fair Trading is the UK's competition and consumer protection authority, with responsibilities covering the whole economy.
	The Government are actively working to help all retailers. Retail is vitally important to local and national economies. This was why it was chosen to be one of the first sectors to undergo the growth review process, and was the first sector to undergo the Red Tape Challenge. These initiatives identified a number of barriers to successful retail performance and growth, which the Government are working to address.
	Through the growth review the Government have committed to extending small business rate relief and announced that 160 regulations impacting on retailers or their customers will be scrapped or simplified. We are also conducting a review of employment law.
	In March, the Government's formal response to the recommendations made by Mary Portas in her report, “An Independent Review into the Future of our High Streets”, was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government
	The report contained 28 recommendations, raising a number of important issues affecting today's high streets and provided some useful and interesting ways in which Government, local authorities, business and the public can begin to address them.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government took immediate action in implementing some of the recommendations, including on high street pilots.
	BIS lead on three recommendations, de-regulation/Red Tape Challenge, Mentoring and Company Reporting.
	Retailers are also able to benefit from the same range of support offered by BIS to help small and medium businesses to start and thrive through:
	Improved access to finance.
	A more positive business environment which supports growth and ease of starting a business, and where new businesses and economic opportunities are more evenly shared between regions and industries.
	A major programme to reform the way that people running a business get the information, guidance and support they need to start and grow a business.
	Building a more entrepreneurial culture, equipping people with the skills and ambition to start a business.

Retail Trade: Newspaper Press

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings he has had to discuss competition issues in the newspaper and magazine supply chain with representatives from (a) newspaper and magazine publishers, (b) newspaper wholesalers and (c) newspaper and magazine retailers representatives.

Norman Lamb: Issues relating to competition in the newspaper and magazine sector are a matter for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. As such I have not met representatives of the industry to discuss competition issues.
	A quarterly-updated list of all BIS ministerial meetings with external organisations is also available at:
	http://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/disclosure-ministerial-hospitality-received-department-for-business